Stronger Than Titanium, The Bonds of Brothers
by MysticWaterWolf
Summary: Brothers,a word that few dwell strongly on.But,for 3 brothers it means everything. Freedom,a place to belong, they will do everything in their power to keep each other safe,from the world that hates them,safe from the fears that lie in their hearts. Dare they believe that there was somewhere else they could belong? Where three odd shaped pegs could fit in? ASL,WB Pirates.
1. Chapter 1

**yes here it is, my second One Piece story!**

 **Yeah, I just couldn't help myself. This plot bunny had been begging to be brought to life, as it's the one year anniversary of my writing adventures today, it seemed an appropriate time to post it and start a second adventure.**

 **As I said it's an ASL fic with my own twists. Timeliness and others facts will be messed with or completely ignored. Ace is not entirely human, I will reveal his heritage later but, as the clues add up I think you'll be able to guess.**

 **Ace will wind up with his devil fruit, Luffy already had his and I'm undecided about giving Sabo one. I have one in mind but, I think I'd like to get some input on what my readers want to see there. PM me or leave your thoughts in a review if you'd like.**

 **The Whitebeard Pirate's will also cone into play, I just love the idea of them on the Moby Dick together.**

 **updates will be on a regularly unscheduled basis, hopefully often enough. Just remember I'm working on two stories and have mercy on my soul. I know, I know, I really shouldn't be taking on two at once but, I was about to go into brain-lock if I solely focused on Of Fluffy Tails and Furry Ears much longer. Writers block was already creeping in but, I think I got it off my trail for now.**

 **Again, I hold with my belief that reviews are a privilege, not a right. But, reviews or constructive criticism are welcome if you feel this fic is worthy.**

 **Warnings/special notes:**

 **Mentions of blood but nothing too graphic. Only a handful of Dandan's bandits are actually named, so far as I know. The one that kind of looks like a rooster I'm calling Red.**

Ace ran through the jungle, ignoring his own pain and fear. He had more iportant things- two important things to focus on. Wrapped securely in one arm each were his two brothers. Sabo was badly injured and thankfully unconscious, while Luffy's face was bloody and had yet to cease crying.

Ace prayed to whatever God that was out there that might listen to one such as he that his brothers would be ok, that Dandan and her bandits had made it back to their home, that they could help his brothers, that he would have enough time to make preparations to leave before the villagers came hunting him.

Oh, yes come they would, for now they knew one of his secrets. Ace saw the fear in the villagers eyes after they saw him kill Bluejam. They knew what he was now and soon that fear would turn into hatred and then they would be out to kill him. Ace could see it written in their faces, there was only a few that saw but, the news would spread faster then the fire that had swept through the gray terminal.

Ace tried to push the fire to the back of his mind. Tried not to think of the blast that Sabo had been caught up in, though he knew that the scream Sabo let out when the fiery blast hit him would be forever engraved in his memory.

Ace was still cursing Sabo for trying to leave the island on his own like that.

There was so many things that happened in the last few hours that Ace tried not to think about.

Luffy wriggled in Ace's hold, trying to get a look at his other older brother. Ace had been careful not to let Luffy see just how bad Sabo was. Luffy's movement jarred one of Ace's own injuries, causing him to gasp and stumble.

Ace went down to his knees while still maintaining a grip on his brothers. "Ace..." It was both a question and a plea from his little brother. Ace steeled himself for the inevitable response from Luffy and moved so he could get a look at Sabo.

Ace knew it was bad, burns were always bad. The one on Sabo's left side of his face was most worrying, so close to his eye... Ace could only hope it would not affect his eyesight. "Sabo..."Luffy wimpered .

Luffy looked, really looked at Ace and gasped. How could he not have noticed his other big brothers condition. He let his worry for Sabo take up all the room in his head. Ace was hurt bad too... "Ace..." Luffy wimpered his name too, he brought his left hand up, letting it hover over Ace's right shoulder. The fabric of his shirt had been ripped and the wound was still bleeding sluggishly.

"I'll be fine, it looks worse than it is." Ace was lying through his teeth on this one but, he managed a week smile. "Besides, not all of the blood is mine..."

Luffy looked back to Sabo. "Sabo will be ok too?" Ace kept every hint of worry he could off of his face and out of his voice. "Idiot! Of course he'll be fine! Sabo is a lot stronger than you!"

That seemed to satisfy Luffy enough for the moment. "Come on, we need to get to Dandan's." Ace stood up again and went to pick up Luffy- "No!" Luffy almost shouted. "Luffy, this is no time to fool around. We need to get going!" Ace nearly growled.

"Ace shouldn't carry me too! Ace is hurt!"

"So are you! You can't keep up!"

"Ace isn't running as fast as nornal."

Ace glared at Luffy but, it was true. Even without his brothers he doubted he could run as fast as normal. "Fine. But if you stumble or slow down, I'm carrying you again."

It seemed like hours until Dandan's house came into view. Ace's vision began to swim, he felt like he weighed tones, every step had been agony. He was aware of Luffy pounding on the door and shouting.

There was hurried footsteps and the door was flung open. Dogra was standing there looking worried, some if that worried look ebbed away upon seeing the boys.

"It's the brats! They're all here! Red get in here, they're injured!"

As Ace and Luffy entered, Dandan came into the room, along with Red. He immediately went to take Sabo.

Ace swayed, he did it. He got both of his brothers to safety. For now, they were safe. Ace knew there were other reasons he needed to stay awake but, right now thy didn't seem important enough. All of the stubborn drive and determination drained out of Ace, along with colors. The world looked washed of color and light.

Ace felt like he was falling while standing up. He could hear voices but, couldn't bring himself to listen to them as everything went dark...

~~~~~ Page Break ~~~~~

Luffy stared at his brothers collapsing form with unbelieving eyes. Ace was strong, the strongest of them all. Never before had Luffy seen Ace so... hurt. Never before had Luffy thought he might loose eaither of his brothers... Then, he would be alone again.

 _Alone_

All alone.

"Ace! Sabo!" Luffy cried. Suddenly arms wrapped around him, preventing him from getting to his brothers. Magra, another of the bandits went to Ace. He picked Ace up, carrying him into the room Red had taken Sabo.

"Lost a lot of blood-"

"Completely run through-"

"Mutiple-"

Luffy only caught a few words before the door was slammed shut. "Let me go! Ace! Sabo!"

"They'll be fine Luffy." It was Dandan that had grabbed him. "Sabo has some burns, they'll heal with time." Dandan paused, phrasing her next words carefully. Dandan could not tell the full extent of Ace's injuries, he could hide them too well. Ace could take more than any normal human could, still she knew they were bad, very bad.

So much blood and Ace was already injured before this... Even Ace could only take so much, he was not unkillable, though damn close.

"And Ace is far too stubborn a brat to give up. I expect his... mixed heritage gives him a helping hand with healing too. He'll be fine and back to being a pain in the ass in no time."

Oh how Dandan hoped that her words would come true. Luffy would shatter if he lost one of his brothers, he would die on the inside if he lost them both.

Dandan's tone softened as she added. "Come on, lets get a look at your face. It looks like those stitches from the bear attack have been ripped out."

Luffy tried very hard not to cry, it would not feel right without Ace there to smack him on the back of the head and say 'Stop being such a crybaby!' Or having Sabo there, telling Ace off for doing so.

Luffy would wait until he could cry and have everything go the way it was supposed to.

Luffy was seven and his view of the world would never be the same again. Suddenly, his brothers were not so invincible anymore and now he knew that there was truly evil people out there. So twisted, so wrong that you could hardly even call them people anymore.

And yet...

And yet...

Normal people, who knew that kind of evil can be in other people would call someone like Ace a monster, a demon if they knew what he was, completely ignoring the real evil in the world.

Luffy couldn't understand. He thought his brother was so cool the way he was. He wasn't evil, being what he was didn't make him evil. There was plenty of 'normal' people that did a far better job at being cruel and evil than Ace ever did, even when he was in a grumpy mood.

~~~~~ Page Break ~~~~~

One of the last things Sabo saw before blessed unconsciousness took his pain away was a pair of glowing red eyes and he knew that Ace was there, would keep them safe.


	2. Never alone again

**I'm updating this much sooner then I expected, what with things as they are right now.**

 **wow, only one chapter and it's already gotten plenty of reviews, followed and faves. Thanks guys, you really helped cheer me up.**

 **Guest, Hey I'm happy that you liked it. I don't have any intention of stopping any of my fics, so no worries there.**

 **IronSkilletofJustice, Thanks,I hope you like this chapter too.**

 **FeyDancer, I know, I'm being downright evil to the boys right now but as you say, they have each other.**

 **Nala1220, I'm pleased it caught your attention. Well, I think this chapter will take care of a few of your questions. Yes, Sabo and Luffy are normal humans. I had considered it but, it just wouldn't have fitted with Sabo's noble background and it just didn't seem to fit with Luffy's usual positive, cheerful, personality.**

 **Bronze andromeda shun, I'm glad you like it so much. There's only a few new hints in this chapter and a lot more of their brotherly bond.**

 **Warnings/special notes**

 **minor swearing, ASL abuse, no blood or detailed injury account.**

 **sigh, I don't own One Piece. Just my ideas, OC's and my lucky pen.**

Luffy sat and waited, staring at the door his brothers were behind like it held the answers to all his questions. Dandan had long ago finished re-stitching the gash on his face caused by the bear and she told him to wait here until Red came out before going in to see his brothers.

It felt like he had been waiting forever for the door to open. He wanted to go right away to his brothers but, there was something in Dandan's voice that kept him from rushing off. It had frightened him, Dandan was really worried about them, she'd never been worried like that before.

Daylight was creeping into the room when the door Luffy had been waiting finally opened. When Red emerged he looked exhausted but, he was smiling. He glanced at Luffy. "Go on and see them, just let them sleep." Red spoke quietly, then he was off to let Dandan know the boys were alright. It was a close thing though, too close for his liking in Ace's case.

Luffy was through the door before Red was out of sight but, he did pause in front of his brothers beds, taking in the appearance of his brothers. Most of them that was visible were covered in bandages.

Sabo had thick bandages covering his head and left side of his face. Lighter bandages were wrapped around his hands. Luffy knew he must have been in pain, he'd had small burns before and they had hurt! Now at least, Sabo slept peacefully.

Ace faired worse, if the two brothers had entered a contest to see who could look more like a mummy, he would have won. Light bandages were wrapped around his head, hands and arms. Thicker bandages were wrapped around his right shoulder. As much pain as Ace was in earlier, he too slept soundly.

Luffy settled himself into a chair, determined to watch over his brothers as they had done many times before when he was hurt. Now, it was his turn to watch over his big brothers.

~~~~~~ Page Break ~~~~~~

It wasen't until after lunch when the first of Luffy's brothers began to stir. Sabo groaned, everything hurt and the reasons as to why were lost to him for the moment.

"Sabo!"

The sudden voice made Sabo wince, it was too loud but, it did serve to kick his memories back into gear. With a gasp, Sabo sat upright only to be hit by a wave of pain. It was all he could do not to cry out at the sudden shock of fresh pain the act of moving brought.

Hands were on him and pillows were rearranged to support him better. All Sabo could do was catch his breath. "Better?" Luffy asked. Sabo nodded, his one viable eye scanning over his little brother. apart from the stitches on his face, Luffy appeared fine.

"Ace?" Sabo questioned, his voice hoarse from the smoke he inhaled. Luffy smiled and pointed to the bed next to them. "He's still asleep."

With some effort, Sabo turned to look at the sleeping figure. He supposed he was sleeping at any rate, at least Ace didn't do anything really creepy while he slept, like sleeping with his eyes open.

Relived, Sabo let himself settle back into the pillows. They were all ok, he knew that Luffy and himself would be. He just worried what Ace might do to himself to make sure of that.

"You know,..." Sabo mused. "Eh?" Luffy asked, tilting his head to one side. "That was the first time you got your aim right, when you stretched to pull me and Ace out of the water after he came to rescue me."

Luffy appeared to think about that before he broke out into one of his wide grins. "Yeah!" Luffy shouted, punching the air. At Sabo's wince at the volume, Luffy looked sheepish. "Sorry."

"It's alright Lu." Sabo said, yawning. Soon, Sabo was asleep and Luffy went back to keeping watch over his brothers. He hoped Ace would wake up soon, then he wouldn't be so worried.

~~~~~ Page Break ~~~~~

Ace did not stir until after sundown. By then Dandan was also in the room while Sabo ate some soup and Luffy attacked his fifth plate of food. A hiss from Ace alerted the others in the room that Ace was beginning to stir.

Dandan rose from her chair to check on him. Ace blinked bleary-eyed at her before his eyes widened as if remembering something. Ace's pale features lost some more color as his gaze took in the sight of his brothers.

"I must leave the island." Ace said in a flat voice, not daring to catch his brothers gaze.

"Have you gone mad!? You can't go out on your own..." Sabo choked on his own words. He now understood what it felt like to be on the other side of the decision he made.

Dandan snorted at Ace's absurd statement. "You're not even fit to be going out into the jungle, let alone setting out to sea."

"Some of the villagers have seen me, they completely freaked out and ran... towards the fire, just to get away from me..." Ace spoke quietly, he didn't need to elaborate on what he ment. In that moment, Dandan understood his urgency.

Sabo's eye widened in realization, while Luffy looked confused. That even made Dandan pause, of all the complications that could arise from the business with the grey terminal fire and the bluejam pirates, this one was one she couldn't fix.

Dandan couldn't make the villagers un-see what they saw, nor could she protect Ace from the mob that was likely to be on his trail. Never mind that Ace rescued everyone from bluejam, oh no. All they'll remember and hear about is his red eyes and fangs, everything else will be forgotten in light of that.

If that wasn't enough to get the villagers after him than the automatic reward starting out at 30,000.00 berries the Marines have out for any of his kind, would influence them. His mixed heritage would only damn him further in the eyes of the world and that's without knowing who his father was.. Dandan knew that Ace's price would be higher, much higher than the starting price, even without the full details of his parental background.. He was strong and could do things that many of his kind could not and that made him different, scary... dangerous.

Luffy looked back and forth between his brothers. "Ace is leaving? Ace can't leave without us! Ace shouldn't be alone! Sabo shouldn't be alone! I don't want to be alone ever again, none of us should! We're brothers!" Luffy started to cry after his outburst.

"And brothers stick together." Sabo smiled sadly, gripping Luffy tightly. "I think I proved that it's a bad idea to set off alone. But together... I don't want to be alone again either. I thought I'd be able to protect us better by leaving but..." Sabo trailed off, they all understood what he ment.

Ace looked at his brothers, remembering the pain and fear he and Luffy felt when they realized Sabo had set out without them. Ace knew that he couldn't do that to them, Luffy had already felt it once and Ace could see the guilt in Sabo's eyes, now fully understanding what he put his brothers through. No, he couldn't do it.

Whatever was going to happen to them and wherever it may take them, they would go together.

Dandan sighed and looked out the window. "Most of the grey terminal in still on fire. It'll be a day or two before it burns itself out and even at that I bet it will take another day to nerve themselves up to come hunting Ace. That gives you boys some time to plan. I'll send Dogra out on the morning to get word to Maniko. She'll want to help and have a chance to say goodbye."

Dandan groaned as she remembered something else. "Garp is going to kill me..." Dandan muttered.


	3. Leaving

**Well, it only took me forever but, I've finally got another chapter out. I've had to put my other story on an extended holiday but, I'm making a comeback from my bout of depression. It's by no means my best chapter ever written but, it's not my worst either.**

 **To Nala1220: Thank you for you review. Luffy has his rubber devil fruit powers. That will be more apparent in future chapters and in any flashbacks I might do. You're other question has been answered in this chapter, thanks for bringing it up.**

 **To Cyres: Thanks for the helpful review. It's much appreciated.**

 **No special warnings. I don't own One Piece. Just my OC's and ideas.**

On a secluded beach on the other side of Dawn Island, a group of people stood next to a small sailboat. The group was focused on three boys being hugged by a slim woman.

Makino hugged the three boys- _her_ boys as tightly as she dared with their injuries. "I packed extra food, and there's more blankets in the basket I put all your medicine and bandages in." Makino released her hold on the boys, with reluctance and tried to smile. It was that or start to cry. She handed a small package to Sabo "I didn't have much time but, I managed to sew a few new shirts for you."

Sabo attempted a smile of his own for Makino's sake. He knew how hard this was on her, Makino was such a kind hearted soul. It had taken some convincing on their part to get Makino to understand the necessity of sending three kids out to sail on their own. At least, until she began to hear the way some of the villagers began to talk, not even the Mayor or herself was able to sway the talk and plans that began to formulate over what they should do with Ace. After that, Makino no longer argued with them over their leaving.

Sabo took the shirts from Makino, his smile becoming real when he noticed she had made the shirts for them in their favorite colors. "Thank you Makino. That was very thoughtful of you."

Luffy looked up at Makino, his usual grin in place. "Food! Is there any meat?"

A laugh bubbled it's way up from Makino at that particular question. It was one she's heard many times before and would miss hearing terribly. "Yes Luffy. There's plenty of dried meat, even for your appetite." Makino's glanced at Ace and her worry took another hit. Neither Sabo or Ace were healed enough for this trip but, Ace looked the worst. It had only been five days since the fire...

Dadan cleared her throat, earning the attention of everyone present. "You got the maps I gave you, Sabo? Remember to head for that small island I told you about. It's uninhabited and will give you guys a chance to re-stock before heading off." And to heal up some more before heading to a populated island. Dadan added to herself. Sabo was the voice of reason among the brothers, she knew he would get them to rest there for a while.

Sabo grinned at the question that Dadan had asked yet again, everyday now since handing him the map and going over some of the islands with him. "Yes, I've still got them. Don't worry so much. We'll navigate our way to the island just fine."

"Worried, who said I was worried!?" Dadan nearly shouted, waving her hands wildly. Everyone present knew what a big lie that was, it was just not in the mountain bandit's way to openly show that she cared.

Sabo raised an eyebrow but, remained quite. Beside him he could hear Ace let out a snort and Luffy let out a quite snicker at Dadan's open denial.

Dadan huffed and glared at them. "One last thing before you go. Here, for you Ace." Dadan said, handing Ace something wrapped in cloth.

Ace took the proffered gift and twitched aside a piece of the cloth to see what it was. She had given him two blood-bags. It felt like the air was seized from his lungs while a lump formed in his throat. He looked up at Dadan.

"Not a word brat." Dadan growled at him. "I knew you wouldn't ask for it, even though you needed it. You haven't feed properly since the fire, you'll make yourself sick at that rate." That had been worrying Dadan. Ace was a hybrid, a very unusual hybrid but, he couldn't continue to deny his vampire side for much longer without consequences.

Dadan knew that he wouldn't accept any offers his brothers might make while injured and he was to prideful and ashamed to ask anyone else so, that left one option. Two bags wasn't much but without anyway to store it any more would just go to waste.

Ace nodded his thanks, a burden suddenly lifting from him. It had been hard ignoring that part of himself but, Ace had refused to hurt his brothers and he'd been unable to go out and do his usual hunting. Ace would usually get the blood he needed from animals and he would occasionally take some blood from a drunk or otherwise unsuspecting human. Never before Bluejam had he actually killed anyone...

"You brats better get going before someone spots us." Dadan told them gruffly. That was in fact unlikely, it was why they chose this spot to see the boys off. Daden could see that Makino wouldn't be able to keep herself together much longer.

The smile that Luffy had been wearing dissipated. "I'm going to miss you all!" He cried.

Maniko gave her boys one last hug. "You three look out for each other."

Ace locked eyes with her "Always." He told her.

Ace went to pick Luffy up since he couldn't wade out to their sailboat on his own but Sabo waved him off. "Let me get him. You can help pull him up on the boat."

More cries of farewell met the boys ears as they waded out and boarded their boat. It was a good craft for handling the most of the oceans but, they would need to get another ship if they wanted to enter the Grand Line. Though, they knew that were some time away from needing that. The mountain bandits, Makino and even the Mayer had pitched in some bellies along side the boys considerable amount of money to help see them off ok.

"Take care! Don't get into too much trouble!"

"Keep safe!"

Snuffles and other suspicious noises could be heard coming from the bandits as the boys lifted their anchor and began their adventure. They had decided against sailing under their pirate flag just yet. It would have brought more attention to themselves than they needed.

"Write when you can!"

The three brothers waived and called out "We promise to write!"

The onlookers watched for a long time, until the three figures on the deck of the sailboat could no longer be distinguished. The sob that had been threatening to leave Makino finally broke.

Those boys hadn't done anything to deserve this but, the world was an uncaring place at times. And fate did not divide the world up fairly between the deserving and the un-dersiving and saw to it that the appropriate things happened to the right people.


	4. East Blue blues

**What's this? Another update so soon? Yes, albeit a small one. I couldn't help myself. Everyone seems to be liking this fic if all the new follows and faves are anything to go by, thank you so much.**

 **To StarliteOracle: Thanks for taking the time to let me know you like my fic.**

 **To Guest: Thanks, I'm glad you find it interesting and hope you are enjoying it. Right now at least, it will mostly be about the three of them as brothers and how Ace's heritage fits into that and the world around them. Oh yeah, I see no reason why other mythical creatures wouldn't be showing up. I've already got plans for werewolves and I'll probably add more.**

 **To Cyres: Thanks again for another helpful review. I am rather surprised it's actually undeserving, as that was coming up as a spelling error on my spell checker so thanks for that one.**

 **To Lacus01: Thanks for the name helper, it's been quite a while since I've watched the first few episodes of One Piece.**

 **To KatePatterson: Thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying it so far. Thanks for the name tip, they come up as wrong no natter what in spell checker so I wasn't paying as close attention as I should of been to their spelling.**

 **Sigh, I don't own One Piece. Though, I wish I did. I could quit my job and have more time to write. I only have my OC's and ideas oh, and my lucky pen.**

Sabo glanced at the hatchway leading below deck for the sixth time that afternoon. When he had suggested to Ace that he would take the first watch with Luffy he hadn't expected Ace to agree without arguing.

That had worried Sabo to no end. Ace always argued, even if it's something he wants to do. So, when Ace agreed to his idea with only a little grumbling, that had triggered all kinds of alarm bells. It was a good thing it would only take them about a week of sailing to get to the next island, less if the wind continued to be favorable to them.

Though Sabo did forget one thing, it was never a good idea to let your mind wander when it was your turn to watch Luffy. There was a thunk, a sudden shout, followed quickly by a final twang. Thankfully no splash.

Sabo looked up into the rigging and sighed. Luffy giggled as he twisted, upside-down in the ropes. "Hold still Luffy, you're only getting more tangled." With care, Sabo climbed up and started to untangle Luffy from the ropes. "I know you're excited to be sailing but try not to keep bouncing around the deck. Neither Ace or myself are in the best shape to be diving in the ocean to fish you out."

As expected, Sabo's words brought a frown of worry to Luffy's face. "I'm sorry." In his happy enthusiasm, he had forgotten that it might hurt his brothers to come in the ocean after him like they always did.

Sabo pushed back his little brothers straw hat so he could ruffle his hair. "Don't worry Luffy. We'll be fine, just try to be a little more careful until we're well enough to come chasing after you."

~~~~~ Page Break ~~~~~~

"I can't believe I volunteered for this!" Cried a youngish man with a Pompadour hairstyle. He was seated in the galley of a good sized sailboat, arms flung up in a dramatic pose.

His blonde companion didn't even raise an eyebrow at this. His brother had said the same thing, with variations every few days for the past two weeks.

"It's your own fault, Thatch. You should know better by now than to volunteer for anything without finding out where you are going." Replied the blonde.

Thatch gave his brother a look but, decided not to comment on that remark.

"Besides, you have to admit that the East blue has some of the best sake out of all the four blues."

Thatch snorted. "Of course they do, Marco. This is the most boring ocean out of all of them! Nothing ever happens here! They need some good sake to help make up for that."

That won a laugh out of Marco. "I received some news from one of the traders on this island. Seems that the relative peace of the East Blue could be in question."

That caught Thatch's attention, he leaned forward in his chair. "Yeah? What kind of news?"

"One of the pirate crews from the Grand Line sailed into the East Blue recently. You know that sort, tough but not tough enough for the Grand Line. Probably causing a lot of trouble for some island or another." Marco didn't much like the line of thought he was having about the situation.

Thatch frowned. "You know, a pirate crew like that running around loose in the East Blue could be very bad. Some don't take well to finding out they can't handle the Grand Line and take it out on whoever they can."

"I share your sentiment on that one." Marco shared a look with Thatch.

"Investigate?" Thatch inquired.

"Definitely, yoi."


	5. From the Ashes

**Weee I'm starting to scare myself. Three fairly regular postings in a row. OMG, Thank you guys so much for the reviews, follows, faves and community posting.**

 **To Krystal 'Demon' Sanate: Thanks, glad you like it. Thanks for reviewing.**

 **To Guest: Thanks, I'm pleased you like it. Hope this update is soon enough. Can't promise I'll get another chapter out soon.**

 **To Lunapok: I'm thrilled you like it that much. Thanks for the review.**

 **To Guest: Thanks for the review, I hope you're liking it. It shouldn't be giving to much away to say that Rouge (in my fic at least) wasn't human.**

 **To Guest: Could be, could be. It's a bit of a trend in my fics (so far at least) to have a bit of a supernatural/mythological touch in them.**

 **To Guest: Yeah, i'm sorry that one was short. It was all I could get out at the time. I'm glad you still liked it.**

 **To IronSkilletofJustice: Hey, glad you like it. Oh my, you're starting to catch on to my writing style. You may be right, it it's at all possible, i'll find a way to surprise everyone.**

 **To Trich: Thanks, i'm glad you like my fic. Yes, i'm a big fan of the WB pirates too. Couldn't resist a fic with them.**

 **To Rin-s666: Thanks i'm glad you liked them.**

 **To wjgr: Thanks, I'm pleased to see you like my fic so much.**

 **In regard to IronSkillet's question about weather I'll take any requests based off this fic. I've given it some thought and will say this:**

 **I will hear out any request, write as many of them as I can that fit into what I have planned for this story. If I get a whole lot of requests that fit out of the bounds I've got coming, I'll probably make a side-fic spot to post them up.**

 **I don't own One Piece. Just my OC's ideas and one sock... I'm still looking for the other one...**

* * *

Sometimes being right really sucked.

Marco and Thatch's feelings towards Bluejam and his crew had darkened further after each stop they made to a new island. With each new island visit came more tails of what Bluejam and his crew had put the islanders through.

Thatch snorted, without humor, at the use of the word pirate. Bluejam and his men were not worthy of such a name. Even most bandits had more morals than this lot. If Marco and himself found this Bluejam, he wouldn't be able to use the name much longer.

Six people, six people who did nothing but be in the pathway of Bluejams anger were dead.

After the news of each death, Marco and Thatch picked up their speed, hoping to prevent another death. All of their inquires pointed to Dawn Island being Bluejams next intended target. They had been unable to gather any intelligence of his departure of that island.

When they were sailing into Dawn Island it became clear right away that something had happened there. A large portion of the forested part of the island had suffered a major fire. It looked to have gone out only a few days ago, a faint smell of smoke still clung to the air.

Thatch looked over at Marco when he heard him zipping up his jacked, covering his jolly roger tattoo from view. Thatch raised an inquiring eyebrow at Marco's action. That tattoo was his pride and joy, physical proof of his bond to Whitebeard and their family of pirates.

"There's a good chance Bluejam is still on this island. Best not to let him know who he's dealing with until the islanders are in the clear of the fight." Marco replied.

Thatch nodded but said nothing as they made their way into the town.

While the townsfolk were not being hostile to the newcomers, they weren't being friendly either. Without being openly obvious, the islanders did their best to be anywhere but within close proximity to the pirates.

It was evidence enough to Marco and Thatch that Bluejam was or at least had been here. While people were usually weary of pirates, it was never at this level without reason.

"Well," Thatch said, stretching. "No ones likely to warm up to us any time soon. We might as well have a look at where the fire took place. Maybe it'll give us some clues about Bluejams whereabouts."

Marco nodded, his eyes still scanning the area. He was beginning to feel that Bluejam was no longer here, things seemed to quite but, looks could be deceiving.

~~~~~ Page Break ~~~~~

Ace smiled as he listened to Luffy babble about what he wanted to do once they reached the island. He was giving Sabo a break from keeping an eye on Luffy. It was hard to do that and make sure they were still on course.

Sabo had told them that in one more day, two tops they would reach their first island on their journey. It was a bittersweet moment, an event in their life that should have happened much later. But, at least it was something they would experience together.

"Acccceeeee. Are you listing to me!?"

Ace chuckled as his attention was brought back to his little brother. Luffy was looking up at him glaring, though that expression on Luffy looked more like a pout.

"Sorry Lu. I was just thinking. What was it you said?" Ace reassured Luffy by using the nickname Ace and Sabo used for their younger brother.

Luffy puffed out his cheeks before repeating himself. "I asked what you wanted to do when we got to the new island."

"Oh... Probably scout the island. See what we might be able to hunt while there. We're going to need to find some fresh water." Ace couldn't leave all the practical stuff to Sabo after all.

"Neh, I bet I'll be able to catch something bigger than you do!" Luffy declared boldly.

Ace laughed at that boast. "Oh yeah, _big_ words from someone who nearly got pulled in the water two weeks ago by a fish you were trying to reel in by yourself."

"Hey! That's not funny Ace!"

~~~~~ Page Break ~~~~~

The trek into the burned forest did not reveal any new clues to Bluejam's whereabouts. It did however, show what a heartbreaking and sorrowful event the fire was to the townspeople. There was proof, charred remains of shacks and other small dwellings.

People had lived in these woods.

People may have died in these woods.

Marco had no proof yet but, he just **_knew_** that Bluejam was responsible for this. He was about to suggest going back into town when a flash in one of the distant burnt trees caught his attention.

Marco reached out to touch Thatch's shoulder, silently asking him to stop. When Thatch looked at Marco, he simply pointed to the distant object that flashed when the light caught it.

As one, they began walking towards it.

The unidentified flashing object turned out to be a shard of mirror. That wasn't so unsettling. What was, what caused a pit to open up the pirates stomach and leave a dryness in their mouth was the location of the mirror shard.

It was in a burned out, hallow shell of what was once a tree house. A place where children once came to play. A place where the laughter of children once must have rang out now only held the sent of smoke and ash. A tome to once was and never will be again.

In a heavy silence, the pair made their way back to the town.

~~~~~ Page Break ~~~~~

In places like this, bars were one of the best spots to get information and Marco and Thatch really wanted to know some things. Party Bar seemed like the best one to go into. It was closest to the docks and more likely to attract the attention to a pirate.

They wanted to know where Bluejam was.

They wanted to know if he had killed anyone on this island.

They wanted to know if the kids that used that tree house were alright. They really hoped they were.

Upon entering Partys Bar Marco and Thatch found the place empty, save for one bar maid. That was not to unusual for such a small town, being the middle of the afternoon.

The bar maid smiled at them, a smile that didn't reach her eyes and ushered them to a place at the bar. The dark circles under her eyes hinted that she'd had little reason to smile of late.

"Good afternoon gentlemen. My name's Maniko. How can I help you?" Maniko asked, taking up her place back behind the bar.

Thatch smiled at Maniko, hoping to get her to warm up to them. "Good afternoon to you too, miss Maniko. My name's Thatch and this is my brother, Marco. I'm sure the bar's specialty will suit us just fine."

Maniko smiled, a hit of it reaching her eyes this time. "Well, I've yet to get a complaint about my seamen's stew. Let's see if it's reputation holds."

As Maniko was busying herself behind the counter, Marco decided to broach the subject they were most interested in. "It looks like there was some trouble around here, not long ago." Marco commented.

"Well, not all pirates are as nice as you but, some cause more trouble than others." Maniko gave them a pained smile with her cryptic remark.

"Yes and bluejam is certainly worse than others." Thatch's eyes only held compassion.

For Maniko's part, neither her expression nor any body movement gave anything away as to what she was thinking. Marco and Thatch were impressed. Izou, another of their brothers may have met their match in poker if she knew how to play.

"You know Bluejam then?" Maniko inquired, nothing but pure innocence in her voice.

Marco shook his head. "No but, we know of him and that's more then enough. We've been following his progress through the East blue. We intend to take him and his crew out before they do any more harm."

Maniko treated them to a real smile after hearing of their intentions. "While I find your quest truly noble, I'm afraid you've come to late to carry it out."

Thatch sighed. "He's already left the island then. Any idea where he headed to next."

This time Maniko shook her head. "No, no nothing like that. He and his men have already been killed."

 **"What?!"**


	6. On Another Hunt

**_I'm back and with a chapter for you guys even._**

 ** _Oh my gosh, thank you everyone so much for your reviews and follows/faves. I don't have time to respond to everyone individually this time but I love you all!_**

 ** _Reality sucks and I'm not sure when i'll get the next chapter up._**

 ** _I don't own One Piece. Just my OC's and crazy ideas. I still can't find my other sock._**

* * *

 _"You know Bluejam then?" Makino inquired, nothing but pure innocence in her voice._

 _Marco shook his head. "No but, we know of him and that's more then enough. We've been following his progress through the East blue. We intend to take him and his crew out before they do any more harm."_

 _Makino treated them to a real smile after hearing of their intentions. "While I find your quest truly noble, I'm afraid you've come to late to carry it out."_

 _Thatch sighed. "He's already left the island then. Any idea where he headed to next."_

 _This time Makino shook her head. "No, no nothing like that. He and his men have already been killed."_

 **"What?!"**

The shout came from both Marco and Thatch. The East Blue was known to all as one of the "weakest oceans", to think that there was anyone already here that could put a stop to Bluejam was mind-boggling. One of the first things anyone did who was looking to make a name for themselves was to get the hell out of the East Blue.

 _Maybe that was why so many big name Pirates, Marines, bounty hunters, and so on that came from the East Blue were absolutely nuts and went all out in making themselves known to the world._ Thatch mused. Years of pent up boredom being released at once. Thatch shuttered. _Thank the seas I wasn't born_ _here_ _._

Marco's next question caused Thatch to blink, bringing out of his pondering and back to the current situation.

"Do you know who did it, yoi?" Even Marco couldn't shake the surprise out of his voice.

Makino had been weighing the options she had since they first started questioning her about recent Island events. _If I tell them nothing more, they will likely find another person from the village more than willing to tell them._ Makino thought. T _hey would tell them all the wrong things too. If I do tell them and they turn out to not be like the pirates I think they are... They remind me so much of Shanks... He would have come hunting the pirate scum too and he would have gone after the boys even if he didn't know them..._

Makino needed to know more about these pirates before deciding how much to tell them. She would never unknowingly bring harm down upon her boys but her options were limited... Either they would learn of them from her or... someone else.

Makino meet the pirates gaze with a determined glint in her eye. "Before I answer anymore of your questions, I have a few of my own. I'd like to know what pirate crew you are from and why you want to know who took care of Bluejam." Makino never once looked away and said Bluejam in much the same way as someone might refer to a dead rat in a trap.

Marco suppressed a smile at the woman's actions and tone. _She is protecting someone._ Marco mused, he liked that. Marco reached up and took hold of the zipper on his jacket and unzipped it, proudly putting back on display his tattoo.

Makino's eyes widened. "So, WhiteBeard Pirates all they way in the East Blue."

Thatch grinned "That's right, the East Blue has some of the best sake and other booze around. Have you heard much about us?"

Before replying to him Makino placed to steaming bowls of her seamen's stew in front of them. "I've heard a few things from the papers and from some of the travelers. You sail under Whitebeard, who is said to be the strongest man in the world. He treats his crew like family and has several islands under his protection."

Thatch downed another spoonful of the stew. "Nearly right. Whitebeard doesn't just treat us like family, we are family. We call him Pop's or Oyaji and he calls us his sons and daughters. This is really good stew. Could I have the recipe?"

Makino laughed at the random request for her recipe but nodded her consent. Her eyes grew distant as she considered her next move. _They seem alright._ Makino thought. _Whitebeard wasn't the kind of pirate who went around killing children or the helpless._ Makino thought. Right now, they may be her boys best hope. Not for the first time Makino wished for some way to contact Shanks but, she dare not ask for fear of them being enemy's of Shanks.

"Tell me, how do you think Whitebeard would feel about having three more sons..." Makino asked, her voice sounded hopeful yet, nervous.

Marco placed his spoon back in his bowl. "These three you speak of, are they the ones that took out Bluejam and his men?"

"Yes." Makino answered hesitantly before rushing on "They were only trying to protect each other and stop Bluejam from burning down the Grey Terminal." The look in Makino's eyes and the pleading in her voice begged the two pirates to understand.

"The Grey Terminal, is that the burned out area in the forest with all of the homes.?" Marco asked.

"Yes, it is. The boys did their best to stop them but it was already to late. They didn't know that Bluejam was going to set the Grey Terminal on fire."

Thatch sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. "Did everyone make it out ok?"

Makino swallowed a lump in her throat. "Only two people didn't make it out. An elderly couple who couldn't escape the fire. They lived to close to the center of the Grey Terminal for anyone to be able to reach them."

Thatch kept his eyes closed for a few seconds longer. He remembered the fiery path of destruction that was left behind. It could have been much, much worse.

"Well," Marco said breaking the silence. "They sound like the kind Oyaji would love to call sons."

"And the kind we would like to call brothers." Thatch added with a grin.

"Please, tell us more about them. We'd love to meet these 'boys' of yours." Marco smiled warmly at Makino. He had the feeling that he was soon to get some new brothers though, the warm thoughts he had now would turn into shock when he learned more about his hopefully-new to be brothers.

* * *

Marco stood at the bow of their boat, staring intently ahead as though by willpower alone he could will the boat they were seeking into view. The boys had a few days head start and would reach their destined island before they could reach them. Hopefully, they would stay there for a few days to rest up.

Thatch was below deck putting their new supplies away and probably worrying.

Marco's mind was still whirling with the information Makino had given them about the boys. Marco snorted at that and thought. Yes boys indeed... Makino had been eager to tell them about their perspective new brothers...

" _Well, the youngest one's name is Luffy. He's seven years old and his two older brothers, Ace and Sabo are eleven."_

Marco had been unable to fully appreciate the look on Thatch's face as he was too busy choking on a mouthful of stew at that little bit of information. Marco still had a hard time wrapping his head around the idea that two _eleven_ year old's and their _seven_ year old brother are out here on the ocean somewhere, all alone.

" _Eveven!?_ _" Thatch had managed to squeak out._

Marco managed a smile at that particular memory. Thatch usually only squeaked like that when you caught him setting up for a prank.

Marco's smile faded as he recalled Makino's rather sad smile when she replied. _"The boys are very strong and resourceful for their age, specifically Ace and Sabo. They look after Luffy."_

There was a lot of holes in Makino's story. Some of it was deliberate, Makino was keeping something from them. An important part of the real reason of why they had to leave. Though, there were somethings, like what exactly happened to Bluejam, that Makino honestly seemed to have no answer to.

Makino eluded to the fact that the boys were abnormally strong, leading to many of the villagers to be wary of them even before the fire. She had also mentioned that their grandfather was in the Marines and would take this as an opportunity to try and get them enlisted early.

" _The three of them hate the idea of being a Marine!" Makino laughed. "They've always wanted to be pirates."_

Though what fulled Marco's hate, even more than Bluejam's actions was learning of the reason why he set the Grey Terminal on fire.

" _Bluejam was paid by the island nobles to set the Grey Terminal on fire. Some Celestial Dragon was visiting and the local nobles wanted to make a good impression." Makino trailed off, her voice full of emotion._

Marco seethed at the memory but he pushed it aside. There was nothing the he could do about it now. His only focus now was to find his three new brothers and... and...

Marco did a double take at his own thoughts... his new brothers. Was he really considering them family before even meeting them? It appeared so. That was very unlike him, it was something that he would except from Thatch or even Izou but not himself. Marco knew that Oyaji would like them and would want to take them in.

Perhaps it was their very young age bringing out his natural protective streak towards those he saw as family or maybe it was because of the unusual circumstances surrounding the gain of three more brothers. Whatever it was, part of him was already seeing them as family, wanted them as his youngest brothers.

Some of Makino's words brought Marco and Thatch no end of worry for the boys. She had said that they were all injured though Ace, the oldest, was the worst off. The heap of extra dressings and bandages brought little relief from their worry.

Marco sighed and shook his head. It was time to head below and see what Thatch was up to. He also needed to get the den den mushi and give Oyaji an update and to get a hold of their ship doctor for some advice. As the first division commander it was his duty to keep their captain informed of their situation. Whitebeard had wanted to be kept up to date on their unexpected pirate chase.

Marco smiled. Now he had to tell their pop's that their wild sake chase turned pirate hunt has now turned into a brother roundup. Oyaji would be pleased, Marco knew.

So would Haruta for that matter. Their current youngest sister would be pleased not to be the youngest anymore. Haruta had been bemoaning over being the youngest for quite some time. Even getting the position of the twelfth division commander hadn't stopped everyone from treating her like their baby sister.

Yes, there was much he needed to tell his family.


	7. You Take the High Road

**Hello Everyone! I am sorry about being so behind on updating but, to help make up for it I've got a 2K chapter. It's part filler- part plot build up and with a good dash of brotherly fluff.**

 **Thank you so much for your reviews and encouragement.**

 **GreenDarkness, Thanks Makino is fun to write. Sorry, No ASL yet at least. They would have been to much a target, three little kids sailing out as pirates.**

 **Nala1220, thank you for that review and it's good to hear from you again.**

 **Blackthorn Ashe, thanks for the review.**

 **Lacus01, Thanks for reviewing.**

 **Syluk, Thanks for reviewing. I'm glad you like it so far.**

 **Guest, Thanks for reviewing. Glad you like.**

 **LostDog200, Thanks for reviewing. I'm happy to hear you like it. PS, that's a good name. You should see about creating an account with that name or as close to it as you can.**

 **Reminiscence Awry, Thanks for the review and appreciating the work that goes into it.**

 **Rin- s666, Thanks for reviewing. Happy to hear you still like it.**

 **gabrielsangel23, Thanks for reviewing. I'm pleased to hear you like it.**

 **Guest, Thanks for reviewing. It won't hurt the plot any to say that Ace's father was human and his mother well, wasn't. As for the rest, we'll all just have to wait and see.**

 **Love-this-smuch, Thank you for the review. Ah, where would we be without Ace and Sabo flying off the handle and getting overprotective.**

 **Okay, before we dive into this new chapter, I wanted to tell everyone that I've put up a new poll. I'm having trouble deciding something and rather than fry my last remaining brain cells agonizing over it, I though I'd see what everyone else thought about it.**

 **Do you want...**

 **The Whitebeard Pirates to catch up with the brothers now-ish, while they are still young.**

 **OR**

 **For the Whitebeard Pirates to run into/ meet or otherwise find them when they are a little older say, early teens.**

 **OR**

 **For neither of these things to happen quite like that. Come one Get creative!**

 **OR**

 **No preference. Let whatever shall be, be.**

 **I can see the plot benefits, extras, complexities, twists, turns, etc for all of these directions. Except for the last one. I do have to sort something out. Rather than melt my brain trying to figure out what everyone might want I figured I'd save me from the meltdown and just ask. Poll will be open from now until June 20th.**

 **Now, with out further delay ... I don't own One Piece, just my ideas OC's and two unmatched socks.**

Despite the distressing circumstances for their flight, the three brothers couldn't keep the smiles off their face at getting to their first island. It wasn't very large, the whole island being the same size as the jungle back on their home island. Nevertheless, it was their first island exploration.

They had circled the island once before choosing the best location to land.

Given Ace and Sabo's excited state, they did not have the proper grip on the youngest to prevent him from running off. With a shout of "Yes! Island adventure!" Luffy was off, running into the bushes before either boy could grab him.

Sabo and Ace exchanged glances. "What trouble could he possibly get into? We're the only ones here and Dandan said there wasn't any real big predators on this island." Sabo reasoned.

Both boys considered that statement for all of three seconds and came to a conclusion based on three things.

 _One..._

Luffy's ability to get into and/or have trouble find him no matter how 'safe' the situation is.

 _Two..._

Their bad luck as of late and the fact that Luffy didn't even think to take his pipe, as usual.

 _Three..._

" _ **Luffy!"**_ Both boys, as one, shouted as they chased after him.

* * *

Marco mentally prepared himself for the talk he needed to have with Oyaji as the den den mushi rang. Across from him, Thatch waited, ready to listen in.

"Whitebeard speaking." Marco and Thatch smiled hearing their fathers voice. Though they liked making errand runs, they did miss their family when they were away.

"Good afternoon Pops." Marco said.

Whitebeards laughter erupted from the den den mushi. "It's always a good day when I hear from my traveling sons. I assume Thatch is there as well?"

"Hi Pops!" Thatch called out cheerfully.

"We have an update for you about the rouge pirate we were hunting down." Marco informed his father.

"You managed to catch up with them then?" Whitebeard inquired.

"Not exactly. We managed to make landfall on the last island he came to but, someone else beat us in taking him out." Marco let out a frustrated sigh.

"Yet something is still troubling you and your brother about it. What's wrong, my sons?" In his cabin back on the Moby Dick, Whitebeard frowned. His sons were not easy people to unsettle, something very disturbing must have happened to get to them like this.

"The situation had become... somewhat complicated." Marco paused, trying to come up with the best way to explain things.

Thatch came to his rescue. "How does us coming home with three potential sons sound."

There was a slight pause before Whitebeard responded. "It sounds like you and your brother have had an eventful trip. Are these new brothers with you now, I'd like to speak with them."

"No, Pops." Marco sighed again, rubbing his temples. "That's where some of the complications come in. We're on our way to track them down right now. They should be on an Island a few days ahead of us."

Marco, with a few comments from Thatch, brought their father up to date on their recent findings on Dawn Island and the little they knew about their soon-to-be new brothers.

With every new revelation, Whitebeard could easily understand his sons distress and frustration at the situation. If he closed his eyes, Whitebeard could almost see three small figures out on the ocean, all alone. The sea could be a cruel at times to even the most experienced sailors. The vast ocean was much to wicked for three small brats to be out alone on, not to speak of other people they would encounter out there. There were worse out in the world than Bluejam.

"I'll have Namur change course and head for paradise so we're closer to your location." Whitebeard informed his sons.

"Thanks Pops." Thatch said on both of their behaves.

"Keep safe and give another call when you find the brats. Let me know if you need any assistance."

"Thank you, Pops. We'll let you know when there is any change in events, specifically when we find them. I know you'll want to talk with them." Marco said. He knew his father liked talking to potential sons and daughters in person but this was an unusual case.

After that, their talk drifted down normal pathways. Mostly detailing anything noteworthy that their siblings had been up to.

Soon, all three were laughing at the tales of their siblings lees fortunate occurrences, smiling with pride at some of their recent deeds, while some left Marco questioning why he thought it was a good idea to leave some of his siblings unsupervised for such a long time. Oh yes... Because letting Thatch go off on his own would have been much, _much_ worse.

Ah, to be back home again. Hopefully, they would be heading there soon and with three new brothers to add to the crazy mix.

* * *

Some astonishing things happened to the three young brothers.

A terrible wild beast did _**not**_ appear to try and eat Luffy. There was in fact, nothing big enough on the island to qualify as dangerous to the three brothers.

Sabo found a fresh water spring with worrying ease. The only difficult part Sabo and Ace had was rolling their water barrel to the spring without aggravating any of their injuries.

Ace and Sabo sat leaning against the barrel in the shade. Normally, Ace did not need to avoid the sun but in his currently weakened state it did effect him some.

"You didn't re-open any wounds. Did you?" Sabo asked, glancing at his brother.

"Nah. How about you?" Ace asked, looking over at Sabo.

"No new damage but not much change, I'm afraid..." Sabo trailed off, at Ace's raised hand. A signal Sabo knew meant that someone, in this case Luffy was approaching. The older brothers were doing their best to keep Luffy's worries over them to a minimum. They were the older brothers, after all.

Soon the flop-flop of Luffy's sandals could be heard by both brothers as he made his way over to him.

"Well, since we're all here..." Sabo began to speak as Luffy wormed himself between his two brothers. "We might as well talk about a few things before we go hunting..."

"What stuff?" Luffy asked, twisting and tilting his head back to better look at Sabo, his usual smile in place. The older brothers had long ago gotten used to Luffy's ability to stretch at angles that would have broken a normal persons bone. It still amused them to no end watching the expressions on other people's faces when they witnessed Luffy's ability for the first few times.

"Things like how many days we can stay here." Sabo looked over Luffy's head at his other brother. "Ace?..." Sabo inquired.

Ace winced at the question. "How many days until the next populated island?" Ace asked.

"The next island is a week away, if the good weather holds." Sabo informed him.

"Neh, A week is forever! Why can't the next island be closer!" Luffy wailed. Sabo laughed and flicked his hat off so he could mess Luffy's hair up.

Ace smiled at his brothers antics, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. He wished he could give Sabo more time to rest and recover. But, if they stayed here to long he would need to feed and his brothers were not healthy enough yet to handle that.

Ace could not, would not do anything to hurt his brothers. Sabo needed to recover more and Luffy was just too small to be able to give him much blood. It still amazed him that they wanted to be anywhere near him after learning what and who he was and to _**want**_ to be brothers with him...

"I can manage two more days here. After that, we'll need to move on. I'm sorr-"

"Don't you dare apologize for something you need." Sabo cut in. "We'll make it okay. Besides, we'll be able to get a hold of more supplies."

"And I bet the other thing you want to talk about is what we're going to do and where we're going to go now that we have some time to think." Ace said. He noticed the brief look of surprise on Sabo's face and grinned. "Hey, give me some credit. I've been around you long enough to know how you think, besides it's logical. We haven't had time to really talk about that yet and we need to."

"Okay, now that's just creepy. You're starting to sound responsible." Sabo teased.

"Ew, no thanks." Ace said, making a disgusted face. "That's your job, being the boring one. So, any ideas?"

"Can we go see Shanks? He'd help." Luffy asked, his smile brightened to match the sun at the idea of seeing Shanks again.

"I'm sure he would Luffy..." Sabo smiled gently at his brother. "But, he's bound to be back on the Grand Line and we're not strong enough yet to go there."

"And we can't just start asking people where he is or anything." Ace added. "You know not everyone likes pirates and they might hate Shanks. We can't risk it, Luffy promise you won't mention Shanks to anyone unless we say it's okay."

"But why!? Shanks is so cool!" Luffy wailed, waving his arms frantically.

Both of the older brothers grinned.

"We know Luffy, and we look forward to meeting him. But, it's as Ace says. Not everyone likes pirates, no matter how 'cool' and nice they are." Sabo said.

"Fine. I promise, even if it is stupid." Luffy said, sulkily.

"Good. So, any realistic plans? I think it would be a good idea if we got out of the East blue. Sabo, what do you think?" Ace questioned.

Sabo nodded. "That's probably for the best, if gramp's or anyone else comes looking for us we'll be an easy target hanging around here. I don't think it would be a good idea to go to the North blue, we're not used to dealing with freezing temperatures."

"So, that leaves the West or South Blue." Ace commented.

Sabo unrolled the maps he brought with him in preparation for this conversation and studied them for a moment.

"Well," Sabo began. "The logical route would be to go to the South Blue. Most of the island chains in our part of the East Blue here lead that way. However, if anyone is following us..."

"Following that route would make us an easy target." Ace surmised.

"Exactly. If we break out of our pattern to soon though, it'll make it obvious where we are headed. So, what we could do is this..." Saboe said, pointing to an island on the map. "Once we get to this island, we make a u-turn and start heading west. The next island from there heading south is three weeks away."

"Ah," Ace nodded. "So, anyone following us will be way off course."

Neither older brother spoke of it yet, they both knew that between part of Ace's heritage being reviled and the chances of Sabo's parents sending someone else to drag him home, the odds were good that someone would come after them. Not to mention what may happen when Garp heard about it...

"Yeah," Sabo grinned. "Just in case anyone is still following us I thought we should break out of our habit of hitting the closest island. But the problem with that is after we make the u-turn, the second closest island is two months away."

"Hum, I don't think that will be a problem." Ace said "Not if we start planning for it now. We could start getting extra supplies, like an extra water barrel or some rope and put aside money to buy more food. It looks like that U-turn is a few weeks away yet, right?"

Sabo nodded.

"Great." Ace grinned. "I should be feeling well enough by then to do some fishing to help spread out our supplies. We might have enough supplies to really out fox them and stay in the open waters an extra month if we can keep Luffy entertained."

"What do you think Luffy, does it sound like a good plan?" Sabo asked.

Luffy looked up at his brothers, a look of serious concentration on his face. "Will there be meet?"

Ace and Sabo sighed in unison at the exasperating yet, endearing question.

"Yes Luffy, there will be meet." They answered their brothers favorite question togeather.

" **Yes!"**


	8. And I'll Take the Low Road

**Yay another chapter everyone! OMG! 203 followers and 147 faves! ::Falls over:: Thank you so much for showing your support and how much you like this story.**

 **I've opened the poll results for everyone to see but, you've still got until the 20th to vote.**

 **Riz5415, thanks for the review and the praise. So far, the only one that has given me trouble is Whitebeard although there are some upcoming ones (Like Shanks and his crew) that make me even more nervous.**

 **Harihi, Thanks for the review and follow. I hope I can live up to your expectations. Ah, well like I mentioned in the intro before the first chapter, Luffy has his rubber devil-fruit. Oh yeah... I did mean meat and not meet. I didn't catch that one though I'm sure Luffy would have. Such a shame he can't proof read for me. I'm sure your name probably means something cool... If only I knew what..**

 **Lostdog200, thanks for dropping by. That's actually not a bad idea and one I might consider taking up as well, reviewing and writing under separate names.**

 **Horizon-Dawn, Thanks for the review and the word corrections. Well, a certain someone is going to be making an appearance but, I make no promises that Shanks and the brothers will meet before the WB pirates find them.**

 **Wolf Riddle, Thank you for your creative review and follow. I did have in mind something else happening with a storm but, I rather like your twist of them getting** **separated. You were actually the only one that sent in any half formed plot idea. So, in light of that and out of respect for a good idea, I'll probably end up borrowing bits and pieces of it. Oooo and I like your name.**

 **xxXxx, thanks for the review. I'm glad you liked it. I'm only going to be using the poll results as I don't want any unfair vote tallying to be in play. But, by the looks of the poll, I'd say that's what will happen (as of today) but, there's still time to vote.**

 **I-Am_King, Yeah the ASL will always have a special bond, they're just so cute together!**

 **, Thanks for the review. Without giving too much plot away (hopefully) I think I can say that Ace won't be getting his fruit until sometime after they meet up with the WB pirates.**

 **Mistress Snow, thanks for the review.** **I'm only going to be using the poll results as I don't want any unfair vote tallying to be in play but, i think that will be most likely.**

 **One thing you should know about me is that I'm a huge fan of mythology, folklore, fairy tales and legends from around the world. I know a lot about the old vampire lore and will be picking a choosing what abilities and vulnerabilities I give to Ace, also I have a few ideas of my own. Although, poppy seeds will probably not be involved.**

 **more new news, keep an eye out for a companion piece to** **Stronger Than Titanium, The Bonds of Brothers. It'll be a series of one shots of random things from before the trio left dawn island to things I didn't think of until too late to put in my main story. Also, it will be a place to put one shots that follow a different path than that of my main story.** **requests are welcome. It'll be called 'Titanium Bits'. I've got one idea sketched out in my head and now that this chapter is done, I'll be starting on it. If I can stop giggling long enough.**

 **I don't own one piece. Just my OC's and ideas.**

* * *

Marco sighed and ran a hand through his hair at the sight the island presented them. While it had plenty of coconut trees, small animal tracks, and a good fresh water supply; it did not have three brats anywhere on it. Marco was getting a strong sense of Déjà vu and hoped that they'd be able to track down the kids soon.

Thatch was currently checking out the kid's tracks, getting an idea of their condition and how long ago they were still on the island. Sometimes, it was handy having a brother who could read tracks. Being head chef on the Moby Dick meant that whenever they docked, Thatch spent a lot of his time in the woods in search of supplies they needed.

Marco looked up as Thatch came back onto the beach, a frown on his face instead of his usual jovial look. Marco's gut clenched at that sight, a frown of his own forming.

"The kids took off two or three days ago..." Thatch said, worry laced in his voice.

"But... That would mean they could have been on this island two or three days at most." Marco said, his brow creasing in worry.

"Yeah, I know. They're pushing themselves hard... too hard for a bunch of hurt kids."

That... that pierced at Marco's heart... "How bad..." Marco trailed off.

Thatch managed a weak smile for his brother. "Not as bad as you're thinking, you mother-hen. The littlest one seems fine, been running all over the island. It's nearly impossible to tell the tracks of the older two apart, they're both moving slow and sometimes one of them is leaning on the other for support. I think they are both taking turns leaning though and they spent a lot of time in the shade resting. The only time they weren't resting was when they went off to hunt for food or to follow after the youngest one."

Marco shot Thatch a mild glare at the use of one of his many nicknames though he felt somewhat relieved. "We had better keep moving then if we want to catch up with them." Marco said, turning to head for their ship with Thatch immediately following after his brother.

It was worrying, seeing the evidence of the punishing pace the brothers were setting. Just what or who were they running from...

* * *

"Are you sure you'll be alright on your own?" Sabo asked, for the second time in three hours.

They had anchored at the port of their second island stop, named Pine Key, before the sun had risen. After an early breakfast they brothers went ashore to start acquiring money to pay for their needed supplies.

The task proved very easy after some muggers had tried to rob them. The would be muggers had a fair amount of money on them. They must have had a good night mugging people, right up until they ran into Ace, Sabo and Luffy- or more accurately ran into their pipes. Seriously, who robs a bunch of kids? Well, that lot would think twice and probably run the other way in the future.

Ace sighed this time at the question. "Yes Sabo, I'll be fine. I feel hungry but, not so much that I'd make a mistake."

As Ace and his brothers knew, there was a few reasons why it was a bad idea for a very hungry vampire, or in this case, half vampire to go hunting alone.

While Ace was to small as of yet to drain a teenager of their blood to the point of death, Ace could drain more blood than would be healthy for them to loose if he were hungry enough to loose control of himself. Not to mention the reaction the townspeople would have towards making such a discovery.

One of the many skills a vampire has is the ability to hypnotize and in some cases even compel their victims. If Ace were compromised due to excessive hunger, the spell may break, causing his victim to become very aware of the situation.

A really hungry vampire is also an easily distracted one. Many a hungry vampire had been to distracted by feeding to notice danger approaching.

A very hungry, weak vampire is also very vulnerable to attack and to having their identity blown. Were Ace to be injured further right now, he may unintentionally blow his cover by attacking in full out vampire form out of his strong survival instinct.

All this Sabo knew and it worried him.

"Look-" Ace continued. "It would be hard for me to concentrate on keeping someone unaware with you two there."

"What if... What if we weren't right there with you. You could take someone to a secluded spot and we could help keep watch around the perimeter." sabo suggested.

Ace thought about that. It actually sounded like a good plan. "Alright, that actually sounds like a good idea but, Lufy, you'll need to keep quite unless someone gets to close to where I am."

"Okay!" Luffy nodded his head enthusiastically.

* * *

Waves rolled up against the newly christened Red Force as she made her way into the East blue for the first time. She was a fine ship, built to handle the rough oceans of the Grand Line and New World. So, seeing her glide into the East Blue was a bit like watching someone hitch up a pair of draft horses to a small Sunday carriage to go into town.

Captain Red-Haired Shanks of the Red-Haired Pirates was atop deck, laughing at something one of his crew members said and in his right hand he held a large cup of rum.

Up in the crows nest, Benjamin was shaking his head in bemusement as he watched the antics of his captain and crew. Most of the time, Ben felt that being a first mate was just a glorified term for babysitter.

It was after-all, Shanks idea to, almost immediately after getting their new ship, take a trip on Red Force to the East Blue for an 'extended break'. Everyone on the crew knew that 'extended break to the East Blue' was actually code for we're going to go visit Luffy for a while.

Still, it wasn't like anyone was unhappy about this latest whim of their captains. It had been about 2 years since they had last seen Luffy.

That was a long time to a child and well, this group of pirates, Shanks especially, had a soft spot for the little anchor. Plus, anyone could see that Luffy was lonely.

Oh, Makino loved Luffy and took care of him as best she could but, that was about all Luffy had for family and you wanted to count Garp the Fist and that was left up to wild debate. Personally, Ben wouldn't trust him with a potted plant, let alone a small human being. Anyway, Gap was a vice- admiral and was away on duty most of the time, only making an occasional visit to his grandson.

Ben grinned to himself. In about a month, Luffy was going to be in for one big surprise.

* * *

"That's right, just relax. There's nothing here to harm you, everything is fine... Just relax..."

Ace watched in satisfaction as the young mans eyes widened and his body relaxed. Good. That meant he had control. Ace had to be careful with who he chose to feed from, some people were able to resist the pull and they could be dangerous.

Ace smiled at the man, fangs on full display and yet not the slightest twitch of fear issued forth from the guy. Not even when Ace began walking towards the young man, backing him up against a wall in a discrete ally well away from the docks, was there the slightest hint of fear. His brothers were keeping a watchful eye at the alley entry's, allowing Ace to keep most of his focus on the task in hand.

There are many beliefs and myths about vampires. Hell, there's even some myths about the myths about vampires.

On the whole, only the vampires themselves and the specialized group of hunters that target them really know what a vampire is capable of. Even then, vampires and vampire hunters still don't know everything. They are beings of the night that dwell in-between the world of the living and the dead, existing as neither one thing or the other. Not immortal, for to truly be immortal nothing should be capable of killing them but so incredibly long lived it's hard to spot the difference.

One popular myth among humans is the belief that vampires always leave bite marks on the throat, as if that's the only readily available vein on the human body. For starters in Ace's experience, his puncture wounds close up and heal over within an hour thus, leaving no evidence of the bite. Why people believe that vampires wouldn't have evolved/developed a way to help keep their presence hidden is a mystery that completely baffles Ace and Sabo.

It didn't take Ace long to figure out that biting someone on the neck had a more personal feel to it than just biting them on an arm. It was really a place where Ace only felt comfortable biting if it was someone close to Ace, such as Sabo or Luffy. Even then, only under the right circumstances.

Ace gently brought the strangers arm closer to his face, all the while keeping the calm and relaxed hypnotic field going and carefully felt with his hand for the best place to bite.

Both Sabo and Luffy had told him that his bites never hurt and in fact felt quite nice. Ace knew now that it was because he didn't wish the bite to hurt them. Before Bluejam ever arrived to their island, Ace never knew that what he wanted the people he bit to feel was actually in his control. Before Bluejam, Ace had never wanted to bring anyone pain from one of his bits. Now that he knew he could control that, Ace was extra careful when he bit someone to feed.

Ace sighed in relief as he bit into the mans arm, he had cut things way too close. If just one more day had gone by without blood, Ace would have been in danger of loosing his control. The man himself let out a contented sigh as his blood began to flow into Ace's system.

Another thing most people didn't know was that underneath the coppery taste, the blood of people and animals had a unique flavor. This man had a curious mix of heavy spicy and something close to pumpkin. It was odd but, Ace liked it. Although that could just be the hunger talking.

After a minute, Ace eased his fangs out of the young mans arm and licked at the would on his arm. His saliva would stop the bleeding and help with the process of closing the wound up.

As Ace helped the man walk to the ally entrance he made eye contact with him again. "After such a great evening, you should go and get yourself something to eat. There were some nice looking places in town... I'm sure one of those would do nicely..." Ace said, his voice like velvet.

To the young man, it sounded like such a reasonable idea. Why would anyone say no to that... In fact, that was what he was going to do anyway... "Yeah... That's a... good idea..." The man said, half to himself.

Ace smiled. If Ace can find a few more people like him tonight, he'll be full and happy for the first time in over a week.

~~~~~ Page Break~~~~~

Namur double checked things in the navigation room before heading out on the main deck. Like all of his siblings, he was excited to hear that they might be getting three more brothers. At least until he heard the ages of the three possible brothers.

Since then, Namur had felt rather gloomy over the thought of having three kids for brothers. Children tended to not like fishmen and usually afraid of him. If they did become family... Namur really didn't want to deal with their rejection but, he would have to if they fitted in with the rest of the family.


	9. NOT A new Chapter

This is not an update in the sense of hey, here's a new chapter for you but just an update on when you might be able to expect it.

It might be a little bit of a wait and for three main reasons.

One is the usual problem most of us face, time to actually do something.

The second one is that I think (based off my ball park estimate in my head, that's usually pretty good) that this upcoming chapter will be the longest one yet in this story. I've already started writing it. So far, I'm at 1,200 words and I've got 5 more scenes I want in it and maybe 2 or 3 more on top of that.

The third one is that I've never actually written anything with Shanks in it yet and I'm having a hard time finding a way to write scenes and dialog with him in it. I may just be over thinking the whole thing, leaving little room for it to flow naturally.

So, with that in mind I may need to take two steps back, write something for Titanium Bits and then hopefully be able to take five steps forward for this next chapter.

Rather than take this down to post the next chapter, I'm going to leave it up. The one time I did that in my first story, it didn't register in the system that a new post had been made and people only found out about that when the next update was made... So yeah, let's skip that problem this time.

The Poll is now officially closed today and the results are in:

60% wanted the WB pirates to catch up to them now

20% wanted them to catch up to them later

15% wanted things to be a little creative and not happen quite like that.

So, in light of the results. They will catch up with them while they are still kids but, it won't be easy and I'll try to get as creative as I can with it.

 **In the future: I will be posting any updates such as this on my profile. So, if it seems like it's been a while for an update to happen or if you just want to see if anything is going on check back on my profile every now and then.** I hate giving people a false thrill thinking a new chapter is up only to find this instead...

On the whole, I think you might be able to expect the next chapter for this story in a month... Maybe less, hopefully not more but, I make no promises, they're bad for the creativity and only encourage procrastination.

BlackGryphon101, Thanks for the review and the corrections. Yeah, Shanks is going to flip out when he finds out what happened. Yes, the brothers will be staying with the Whitebeard Pirates, it would rather go against this being an ASL + WB pirate story if they didn't.

Harihi, Thanks for reviewing. See, your name is cool. Everyone one here has a cool name with an interesting backstory. It's hard to say what Luffy will do but, Marco is probably not off limits. We all love to see his feathers ruffled after-all. :) Rather than a plot builder, this chapter was more of a character builder. Finding out more about Ace and seeing more of everyone's personality. This chapter that I'm working on will have plot and might even be exciting (hopefully).

I know, I'm surprised Shanks showed up too. It wasn't part of the original plan but, a few people wanted the trio to wind up with Shanks for a bit before going on to WB. I couldn't and still can't see a logical way for that one to work even if I wanted it to, it was not a part of how this story was going to go. But, I thought a good compromise would be to bring Shanks earlier into the story. His entrance should be epic if I can hit it just right.

Kanda Yuuki, Thanks for the review. I'm glad you like it. Sorry, but that's not how this story is going to play out. It started as an ASL WB pirate fic and it's going to stay that way. Shanks will play a roll in their life but, he won't be a constant presence in it.

StarliteOracle, Thanks for dropping by to let me know you like it.

Lostdog200, Thanks for dropping by again. I hope the next chapter will be worth the extended wait. As for what I prefer, I like sweet things better.

Reminiscence Army, Thanks for the review. There will be more about Ace as we move along. Yes, poor Namur. He will have to suffer a little longer. BTW, you have an interesting name. I like it. 'An army of memories' Is that how you meant for your mane to be perceived or have I got it wrong.

Wolf Riddle, Thanks for reviewing. Ah, well you were the only one to give me a half formed idea, something that could be worked with.

Asuka1920, Thanks for liking it.


	10. And I'll Be In The Sea Afore Ye

Oh my... 6,717 words in this chapter. I feel that my be a new record for me. I feel accomplished, happy, anxious and very drained. Thank you everyone for your patience while I got this chapter worked out. I'm still not 100% sure about it but I tried my hardest on it.

So, I mentioned I was having trouble with Shanks but, I'd be interested to know if anyone can guess the second area that gave me trouble...

lostdog200, Thanks for the encouragement! You know it's funny you should ask that. I have a little black book of evil writing ideas (Okay, maybe not all that evil but the notebook cover is black) and among them a time travel fic is lurking. Though I will admit 99.99 percent of them are AU. I suppose I like doing them because there really is only so much you can do with a fic that isn't AU before it gets boring.

MoonFruit12, Thanks for the review.

Fire, Thanks, I hope you find it worth the wait.

Wolf Riddle, thanks for the encouragement. I hope I pulled off Shanks alright. Good luck with your own writing. Yeah, I hope to start revising furry Ears soon.

Guest, Thanks for reviewing.

Guest, Thanks. I try to keep things interesting. Yeah, we'll get more into the how and why's of Ace soon. The WB pirates will have their questions about them... As for what's going to happen. The vote's in on that one and the majority wanted them to catch up while they are still kids.

betsybugaboo, lol thanks. I enjoyed writing that part. Glad to hear others liked it too.

Team Wingless, thanks for reviewing. I'm glad you like it so far.

So, without further delay... I don't own one piece...

* * *

It had been three weeks since Marco and Thatch tracked the three brothers to their fist island stop. Three weeks of frustration, determination, worry, hope and bitter disappointment.

They almost lost the trail of the brothers two days ago when they made a u-turn. If Marco hadn't flown ahead to the next island in an attempt to find the boys they would have been thrown off their trail and wound up a week behind them.

Marco and Thatch were even more determined to find them before they did loose their trail. If only the ocean wasn't so damn big.

Marco now stood on deck, dread filling him as he watched what was rolling their way.

A band of white filled the sky and a few miles behind that, black clouds were rolling in. Marco knew the white band to be thousands of sea birds, riding the winds that come before a storm. It was the storm that was coming their way that had Marco worried.

While no storm should be underestimated, the two experienced pirates had faced many storms and this one was very small in comparison to what mother nature unleashed on the Grand Line. This storm did represent a threat to three kids who had yet to experience something like that on the seas before.

Up until now the seas of the East blue had been calm with a good, steady wind. Marco had been hoping to catch up to the brothers before the first storm hit but, as a roll of thunder boomed off in the distance it turned those hopes into an impossibility. Unless...

"Stop that thought right there, you crazy blue chicken!"

Marco glared at his brother, in calmer weather 'blue chicken' was getting tossed overboard words.

"Don't give me that look, the nickname was well deserved. You were thinking about flying! In this weather! Even if you knew where the kids were, which we don't, you just might reach them before the storm hit. More than likely, you'd go in the wrong direction, the sea is full of wrong directions with only one right path the boys took and then you'd be at risk of winding up in the sea and drowning when the storm caught up to you!"

Marco sighted. "I know, Thatch. It's just..." Marco trailed off. He didn't need to finish. They both knew that the brothers may not be able to get through this storm and there was noting they could do about it. Marco gripped the railing so hard his knuckles went white, the wood of the railing creaked, threatening to snap if more pressure was applied.

Thatch let out a sigh of his own. "Yeah, I know. If we knew where they were, how far out they were, it would be worth the risk. But, without knowing anything... I don't want my brother to risk his life on such a slim chance. They're tough kids, hopefully they can get through this last trial and then we can find them."

Marco nodded. "Come on then, we better get ourselves ready for this storm."

* * *

Luffy stared in wide-eyed awe at the white band and dark clouds rolling their way. Ace and Sabo were furling the mainsail, while eyeing the approaching storm.

"Luffy, I think it's time you got below deck" Sabo said. The wind was picking up, soon the storm would be on top of them.

Luffy tore his gaze away from the storm to look at his brother. "But, I want to stay up here and help!"

A roll of thunder sounded out across the ocean like a cannon shot. Flickers of lightning were almost on constant display.

"No Luffy. The waves are going to be to high for you to be up here. You don't want to live up to Shank's nickname for you and sink like an anchor, do you?" Ace said, reaching under his hat to ruffle Luffy's hair. "Besides, it would be a big help if you went below deck and made sure everything was tied securely."

"Alright..." Luffy said, puffing his cheeks out at an impossible level for someone who didn't eat the rubber devil fruit. Still pouting, he went below deck.

"Any idea what the white band is?" Ace asked, sparing another look at it as he was making sure the sail was tied fast.

"No. It wasn't mentioned in any of the books..." Sabo said.

Their question was soon answered when over a thousand sea birds flew overhead. It was just as well Luffy had already gone below deck, they'd have never gotten him to leave after seeing this amazing sight.

The eerie thing about it was how quite they were, it was as if all of their energy was put into the effort of getting as far away from here as possible.

The brothers didn't have long to wonder at that before the wind picked up, the rain slammed into them from above and the waves crashed into them from the sides and higher waves hit them from above.

* * *

 _Meanwhile... On a certain island in the East Blue..._

" _ **What do you mean Luffy's gone!"**_

Five minuets can make a big difference in how you perceive things. Five minuets ago, you would have thought the the small town on Dawn Island was a fairly quite place where nothing very wild or interesting happens. You'd be right, most of the time that is.

Five minutes ago, Makino was still in Party bar serving customers.

That was until someone came running into the bar. "There's a ship docked that has Red-haired Shank's flag flying on her!" The man exclaimed.

With a shout of joy, Makino ran out of the bar to the docks, leaving her stunned customers behind. It had been over a month since her boys had left and there still wasn't any word from the Whitebeard pirates. Now, there could be someone else out looking for them. She knew Shanks would help, he adored Luffy and would equally like his two brothers.

With everyday that passed, Makino become less and less the happy bar maid the town had come to know.

The townspeople couldn't understand what her problem was, those boys were nothing but trouble in their eyes and she should be glad they were gone. Especially after learning that one of them really was a demon. Outwardly, Makino didn't say a word about it but, inwardly she fumed over it.

Makino wasn't sure how much more she could take, how much longer she could pretend that their words didn't bother her. Makino knew that if she protested and spoke her own mind, an opinion that was not shared by the other townsfolk, she might loose all her local customers and be solely reliant on drawing in enough outsiders.

"Shanks!" Makino cried as soon as the ship barring his flag came into view. "Shanks!" Makino ran on to the end of the docks, getting closer to his ship.

* * *

Shanks and his crew were up on deck, eagerly anticipating docking at Dawn Island for a while. They were cheering, and laughing and as expected, drinking.

Shanks paused in his chatter to Ben. Something or rather a lack of something caught his eye. In the jungle portion of the island, where there should have been only lush green, was a large barren area, only a few patches of green could be seen reclaiming the area.

"Looks like there's been a fire not to long ago." Ben commented, a frown forming on his face.

"Yeah... Luffy liked to play a lot in that jungle..." Shanks was frowning also, a more serious attitude taking over the usually laid back caption.

"Let's not start jumping to conclusions before we get there. It was probably started by lightning and more than likely Luffy was at Party Bar when the fire broke out." Ben reasoned.

That level headed thinking calmed his Captain and the other crew members.

The spell of calmness broke when Shanks and his crew spotted Makino running along the docks, shouting for them. Her shouting, there was something in her voice, something desperate and Luffy wasn't with her.

Luffy... The second time they came back to this island before heading back to he Grand Line, Luffy had been running for them, shouting like crazy. Now, there was no sign of Luffy.

The beginnings of anxiety filled the captains heart, beside him, Shanks could see Ben was running the current situation through his head and not liking the scenarios he was coming up with.

As soon as the ship was in range, Shanks jumped off, landing on the docks a few feet in front of Makino.

"Shanks! you're here, you're here! I'm so glad you came back!" Makino cried, hugging the red haired man.

Shanks wrapped his right arm around Maniko in an attempt to comfort her, his own heart beating like a conga drum. "Hey, what's wrong? Wheres Luffy at?" Shanks asked.

"Luffy's gone!" Makino said in a choked voice.

 _Stunned silence..._

" _ **What do you mean Luffy's gone!** " _Shanks shouted, pulling away from Makino and looking around wildly, as if that would somehow help him find Luffy and the answers he needed.

 _ **Screw Ben and screw keeping calm!** _ Shanks thought This was _not_ a situation to keep calm in. So, Shanks started to panic and freak out, all the while shouting.

 _Ah, yes... What a difference five minutes can make._

Back on Red Force, Ben groaned when he heard his captain's shouts.

 _Here we go again..._ Ben thought. "Get red force docked!" Ben said to the crew before making his way over to rein in his captain before he did anything stupid. _No..._ before he did anything else that could top his current stupidity.

* * *

Waves hammered against the ships side and the wind roared it's fury while lightning flashed. Marco and Thatch took turns handling the tiller while the other took a break and checked over the ship.

The rare moments a thought could be spared, Thatch and Marco prayed that the three young boys would make it through this storm okay.

It was a strong storm for the East Blue/West Blue meeting point. At times like this, every sailor was reminded of just how destructive the sea could be. Sailing on her, being free on her waters was a privilege and the raging storm was a reminder of how quickly that privilege could be revoked.

* * *

They were not ready for this, they were really not ready for any of this.

Books, Sabo was learning could only teach you so much and Ace was finding that instinct could only get you so far. But, Ace and Sabo had no choice to to try and hold out against the storm, hopefully their combined efforts would be enough to keep their boat afloat.

The snapping of canvas reached Sabos ears the same time Ace's hand grasped his shoulder. The mainsail that they were so sure they tied fast was coming loose. If they didn't get it tied up securely this time, the sail will be torn to shreds in this high wind.

They had only managed to get a spar jib sail, they had no backup for their mainsail. The boys rushed as quickly as they could over the tossing boat to the flailing sail.

Their progress was interrupted by a big wave crashing over the railing of the boat. Ace managed to shove Sabo into the mast before the wave struck. Sabo clung to the mast as the powerful wave rolled over him, ready to curse Ace out the moment he could breath again.

When the wave passed and Sabo could see again, all swear words except for _shit_ left his mind. Ace was clinging to the ships railing, trying to pull himself back up.

Before Sabo could reach Ace another wave hit them, slamming Sabo into the boats railing. He tried to cry out in pain only to choke on seawater.

When the wave passed Sabo looked fanatically for his brother along the ships railing, all the while coughing in an attempt to clear his lungs but, he didn't see him...

 _Oh shit..._

This time Ace wasn't clinging to the boat railing anymore. Ace was in the ocean, fighting to stay on top of the rolling waves.

" **Ace!** " Sabo shouted. " **Ace, Hang on! I'm coming!** "

Sabo hoped that Ace could hear him above the storm, though he doubted it even with his good hearing. He raced to grab the rope they were going to use to secure the sail. His plan was to tie one end to the ship and the other end to himself. That way they could use it to pull themselves back to the boat.

Before Sabo could get the rope tied around the railing or himself, he heard a shout behind him and felt his heart stop for a moment.

 _No, no, please no..._

Sabo looked behind him to find Luffy rushing to the railing their older brother went over.

* * *

Luffy had never felt afraid of a storm before, back on Dawn Island they had never seemed scary. He and his brothers would often stay up to watch them. But, now he felt fear. The wind sounded like a constant screeching wail and the waves caused the ship to pitch wildly.

Luffy was again thankful for his devil fruit, it was a cool power no matter what anyone else said. The ships rocking had caused him to crash into the cabin walls several times now. It would have really hurt without his fruit, instead he just bounced off. It would have been really fun if it weren't for this... feeling he had.

Something felt wrong... Like something bad was going to happen, just like it had felt with Bluejam. He had tried to warn his brothers about him, about this bad feeling but, he did not have the right words to tell them with and they didn't understand what he was trying to say. Luffy still did not know how to explain this feeling to them. It was a mystery feeling.

Luffy's thoughts stopped and his body stilled as he strained to hear something. It was near impossible to hear anything over the storm but he could have sworn he heard one of his brothers cry out. Luffy's heart raced, the bad feeling he'd been having was almost overwhelming now.

Luffy didn't give anything any further thought as he lunged for the hatch to get back on deck. Whatever the bad thing was, it was happening now and it was happening to his brothers. Luffy wouldn't let it just happen, not this time and not ever again. He would never again push this wrong feeling aside, he would find some way to get his brothers to understand.

Luffy shot out from the hatchway like a cannonball, his feet slipping on the wet deck. His eyes immediately landed on his brother, Sabo. Ace was not in sight, sending a wave of panic through his small frame.

Sabo was shouting something, he caught Ace's name and was looking out to sea, all the while trying to tie a length of rope to himself.

Luffy scanned the area of rolling waves Sabo was focused on. When he spotted what Sabo was so intent on it felt like all the air in Luffy's lungs turned to ice.

Ace was out there. Ace was out in the open ocean, trying to stay on top of the choppy waves.

"Ace!" Luffy was moving to the railing. "Sabo! I can get him, I can reach Ace!"

It would be just like Luffy had done with Sabo. Just stretch his arm out, reach Ace and pull him back to the boat.

In the corner of Luffy's vision he could see Sabo turning but, his sole attention was on his eldest brother.

"Ace! Ace!" Luffy grabbed hold of the railing with his left hand and rocketed his left arm out to Ace. At the same moment as Luffy's hand reached Ace, Hell and all it's fury was let loose in one spectacular moment.

The air seemed to hum and buzz, the hairs on the back of Sabo and Luffy's necks raised despite the rain and then there was a flash of white so bright it temporally blinded all three brothers. It lasted for only a second but, in that second a thousand extra years were somehow crammed into it.

There was also the noise, a terrible, loud splintering crack. The boat they were on shuddered, causing Luffy to loose his perilous grip on the railing.

"Ah!" Luffy yelled. Having nothing to anchor him while still having a firm grip on Ace sent Luffy rocketing over the sea at speed towards Ace.

The boats sudden lurching caused Sabo to stumble and fall to the deck. A large piece of wood skived through the air over Sabo's head.

For a long while the storm raged on, then it quietened to a dull roar. Gradually, the storm dissipated and a sort of magic took over. Once again the sea took on the guise of tranquil beauty, ready to lure those who sail her into a state of bliss...

Until they are reminded again by the raging waters that they do not own the sea nor could they ever truly conquer her. Sailing on the sea meant freedom, yet those that sailed are merely leasing their time on the ocean until the sea demands her price, be it getting shipwrecked and marooned or outright killed.

Some are lucky and are never demanded of to pay while others are not so fortunate.

For now, the waters are calm and the sky is clear. On the deck of a small boat, all is silent except for the gentle lapping of the waves.

* * *

Sabo slowly came to awareness with a groan. _Honestly, this was starting to become a bad habit. Waking up groaning over some new pain and wondering where his brothers were._ Sabo thought.

Sabo thought about that...

Sabo thought about that some more once he kicked some of his feebly struggling brain cells into gear...

Sabo got up from the deck so fast he nearly fell over. He felt dizzy, almost sick and his muscles ached but he forced his body to cooperate.

" **Ace**!" A quick look across the deck found it empty of either brother. " **Luffy!** " There was something wrong with the appearance of the deck but, he would figure that out later. Right now he had more important things on his mind, leaving no room to process anything else.

Sabo lunged for the hatch, ignoring the painful protest his body gave to that action, hoping against all the reason he had left that his brothers would be below. Though, with an ever sinking heart, he knew that they would not be.

Against his hearts wishes, Sabo did not find his brothers below deck. What he did find was seawater. As if things were not already bad enough, the boat just had to sink on top of everything else...

Sabo went back on deck with a renewed urgency and blinked rather stupidly...

The mast was gone... That's what looked so strange and part of the railing was missing too. Not that it mattered. This boat wasn't going anywhere except in a downward direction.

With dwindling hope, Sabo scanned the water, hoping to see anything out there that might mean his brothers were alive.

Water, water everywhere but a sign of his brothers there was none.

Sabo took a deep breath. He refused to believe they were gone, his heart wouldn't allow it. He _knew_ that they were out there, somewhere. Sabo could not (or would not) imagine a would in which they were not there. Sabo didn't care if he had to search every damn island out there twice, he would find them.

Then, another thought struck Sabo.

 _Oh by all the seas..._

The railing that Sabo had intended to tie himself to had been ripped away by the falling mast. If Luffy hadn't come up when he did...

Sabo shuddered. The railing would have dragged him down before he could untie himself from it. He would have probably drowned before be could have gotten back to the surface in the rough seas.

The lightning strike had completely taken the mast off while leaving the haul intact, otherwise the boat would have sank in seconds. The haul herself had some cracks that were slowly seeping in water.

The only good news was that the boat was sinking slowly, Sabo estimated he had about three to four hours before she was completely submerged. So, he had roughly three hours to salvage what supplies he could and put together a makeshift raft.

 _Thank you, thank you, thank you Ace._ Sabo chanted in his mind. The skills Ace taught him about making due and using the materials you had at hand had never ceased to amaze Sabo in how useful they were.

It had taken time for Sabo to realize- no it had taken Ace whacking Sabo upside the head and setting him strait about how Sabo's way of thinking and analyzing things was an important skill to the brothers, when all Sabo could see was that he didn't know how to do or make anything.

The brothers could make due on their own but they shined when they were together. The way they fought, the way they hunted and the way they worked together spoke volumes. They each completed or added a part that the other(s) were missing, or smoothed an area out where they had too much of something.

Ace was the skilled one when it came to making things but, it was Sabo's input on the details that made the project twice as good as it would have been otherwise and Luffy... Luffy would cheer them on and help where he could.

Luffy was their spirit, he kept them going and made impossible things seem possible, who simply liked Sabo for being Sabo and Ace for being Ace. He would never give up on himself or his brothers. Right now, Sabo really wished they were here but, more importantly, wherever they were he hoped they were alright.

Sabo took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Right, he could do this. He could do this, make a raft and find his brothers.

A wary smile broke out on the blondes face. Or, maybe they'll find him...

They were just as stubborn as he was, after-all.

* * *

"Well, how far off course are we?" Thatch asked, leaning against the galley wall.

Marco looked up from his charts. "About fifteen miles off to the east, yoi. The wind really dropped after this storm went through, it will take us a few days to get back to where we were."

Marco looked out the porthole. "It's good flying weather now, however..."

Thatch hummed. "Well, with the wind down we won't make good sailing time to be able to find the boys. I bet they need help, their boat is probably a mess right now. Go on, I know you want to and with this good weather, I want you to go too."

A smile broke out on Marco's face. "Keep your den den mushi with you. I'll report in if I find them."

Thatch grinned. "When you find them. We're well overdue for some good luck, today's gotta be the good luck cash in day."

Marco shook his head, yet he kept his smile. "You and your crazy superstitions." Marco commented, making his way out of the galley.

"They're not crazy if they keep happening!" Thatch called out after his brother with laughter in his voice.

Thatch groaned as he slumped back in his chair. He knew what he had to do. He knew what the responsible thing to do as a commander was but, dammed if he didn't want to do it. Being responsible sucked, no wonder he liked to leave that task to Marco. But, he was the only one that could fly and that left Thatch to take care of the other thing that need to be done.

But, he had to do it. They had given their word to Pops that they would keep him up to date and a promise was a promise, no matter how worrisome the news may be. Thatch knew, as would their father, that it was a slim chance the boys made it through alright and Marco would be able to find them. He hoped that they would be found by Marco and had confidence that if it is at all possible, Marco will find them.

With one more heartfelt sigh, Thatch picked up the den den mushi and dialed.

* * *

"So, let me see if I've got all of this straight." Shanks began, looking at Makino. She was sitting at the table across from him in the empty Party Bay. Empty that is except for the rest of the Red Force Pirates.

Once Makino's customers had caught sight of Shanks and his crew, looking as serious as they had ever seen them, they decided that they had had enough beer for one day and left.

"Right after we left, Garp took Luffy up to live with the mountain bandits to get more marine training into him. Luffy met two other kids there, Ace and Sabo. Shortly after meeting them, they swore an oath and became brothers." Shanks said.

It had taken some time for Shanks to calm down enough for anything to be explained. Many details had to be gone over and over again, as each new detail brought a new wave of surprise with it.

Makino nodded. Hopeful this time, that Shanks and his crew will have every detail down pat.

"Right, okay and the older brothers had a habit of steeling money from the other bandit groups in the area for their future pirate fund." Shanks continued.

Makino smiled. "Yes. They were each going to set out to sea at 17 to be a captain of their own ship and form an alliance. The boys were putting by enough money so they could each get a starter boat and supplies..."

Shanks nodded, he approved of their actions. If you're going to go out to sea, you needed to be prepared. There were worse ways to get money then from steeling it from bandits, they did want to be pirates. Then he frowned, remembering where things were going.

"That worked well for the boys until they accidentally stole money from a pirate crew. Then..." Shanks paused, trying to recall.

"Once the boys realized their mistake." Makino continued for him. "They tried laying low and avoiding and members of the Bluejam pirates. That worked for a while, no one knew the jungle better then they did."

Shanks nodded, his brow creasing. "This is where things start to get complicated. One of Luffy's new brothers is actually a runaway noble..."

"Sabo, yes. He ran away from home when he was much younger and met up with Ace then. From what Dandan told me, Sabo's father recognized his son when they were up in high town about the same time as the Bluejam pirates showed up." Makino said.

Shanks growled. "Yes, and then that bastard went and hired Bluejam to bring Sabo back to him. Threatened to kill Luffy and Ace if Sabo didn't go with them."

Makino nodded sadly. "Yes and Sabo wouldn't risk his brothers lives..."

Ben shifted in his seat, where he had been quietly sitting. "So, Sabo left with them and stayed home for about two weeks before running away... again. This time he got it into his head to run away at sea... Any idea why?"

Makino sighed. "My best guess is that is was an attempt on Sabo's part to free himself of his noble family and still keep his brothers safe, it was a foolish plan, setting out alone so young." Makino paused before continuing, her voice hardening. "Even if it weren't for the Celestial Dragon firing on Sabo's boat."

The collective atmosphere in the bar darkened again at the re-mention of the part the Celestial Dragon played in all this mess. The Celestial Dragon's represented everything that real pirates were against. A _real_ pirate would _never_ work for a noble...

Shanks scowled at the mere thought of someone calling themselves a pirate doing such a thing. "And Luffy saw the whole thing... I'm a little surprised with what you have told me about Ace, that he was not there too."

"I know what you mean. Ace and Luffy apparently had an argument, I'm not sure about what. Luffy was still worked up about it when he got into town." Makino frowned a bit. "I have a theory about it though. I don't think it was a coincidence that Ace was facing off against the Bluejam pirates at about the same time as Luffy was using his devil fruit to rescue Sabo from his burning boat."

Ben nodded in agreement."You think Ace started the fight on purpose to get Luffy away from him so Ace could go and challenge Bluejam alone."

"Yes. Then they could have gone back for Sabo without worrying about anyone taking him away again. Only, none of the brothers knew what the other was up to until it was too late. The fire had already broken out while Luffy was rescuing Sabo and they took off into the blaze to find Ace." Makino said.

Shanks rubbed his temples, he could feel a headache coming on. For a moment, he sympathized with Ben. This must be how he felt most of the time, Ben must go around with a semi-permanent headache. No wonder he got grumpy sometimes...

"Speaking of Ace... He's really a vampire, with fangs, sucking blood, turning into a bat... Really a vampire?" Shanks asked, trying to get his head around the idea. Vampires were illusive dwellers of the night, rarely seen by anyone. Even Shanks had only ever seen one, maybe two, that he knew of at least. That was another thing about them. Their ability to blend in and hide, not the Shanks blamed them.

Makino managed her first true smile since their discussion began. She felt no fear in letting Shanks and his crew know about Ace or Sabo, knowing that they would never harm them over it.

"I don't know about turning into a bat, though I'd bet he'd make a cute bat..." Makino trailed off for a moment, smile still in place. "As for the fangs, yes Ace has them and he does drink blood though he is careful about that. Up until Bluejam, he'd never killed anyone either. No one else on the island except for the bandits, his brothers and myself knew he was a vampire or rather, half vampire."

Ben tilted his head. "How did you find out? Surely if they were keeping it a secret..." He trailed off.

Makino giggled, at the time when she learned the truth is gave her quite the scare, though not for the reasons other people might expect... "Well, for some time I had no idea. They would come in here a lot for meals and Ace didn't act to unusual. Then one day, Ace fell out of his chair, asleep. I thought that was rather cute... Until he stopped breathing. Apparently, that's normal for him to occasionally fall asleep during daylight hours and he almost always stops breathing after awhile but, at the time..." Makino trailed off, laughing this time. When it happened, it was absolutely terrifying. Now, she could look back and laugh.

Shanks and the others laughed too. Right now, after all the building tension they needed something to laugh at, anything.

"There is one more thing..." Makino started.

"Tell us, my dear lady." Shanks said with his usual charming smile back in place. He really needed that laugh.

"Do you know the first and fourth division commanders of the Whitebeard pirates, Marco and Thatch?" Makino asked.

"Yeah..." Shanks said, not really sure what to think about that sudden question.

"Well, they came by this island hunting Bluejam. Now, they're off looking for Luffy, Ace and Sabo. I believe they were sincere about the possibility of them joining." Makino informed them.

Shanks slumped back into his chair with a groan. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me..." Yep, Shanks could feel the headache come on in full swing.

* * *

News spread like crazy aboard the Moby Dick about their three new possible brothers. Everyone was excited, it had been a little over ten months since the last new additions to the family.

Pops did not choose lightly when it came to new sons and daughters and so months, even a year could go by before someone came along that caught his eye. There was no denying, after everyone had heard about the three brothers, that they sounded like they would fit into this family just fine.

Next to Pops, the most excited about the new prospective brothers was Haruta. Since her joining at the age of 16, Haruta had remained the youngest for the last 4 years.

Even the possibility of her not being the youngest, of finally being a big sister, had Haruta bouncing from bow to stern. Her brothers and Sisters watched on with amusement, all of them remembering the day they became an older brother or sister and the excitement that brought to them.

Much to her fathers amusement, Haruta would ask everyday if there were any news from Marco and Thatch. That's not to say there weren't a dozen other siblings standing behind her, also eager to hear any news.

Whitebeard was in his captains chair on the upper deck, enjoying the sea breeze and watching over his children.

Without their first division commander, Marco and most responsible brother here, everyone was a little more wild and disorderly than usual. When the mother hen is away, the little chicks will play. In this case, they will get drunk, throw a lot of parties, slack off their training and not do their paperwork.

Marco was going to throw a fit when he got back.

Likewise, with their fourth division commander Thatch and master of pranks gone, things were a little quieter than usual. Not so many people running down the halls shouting and out for blood.

Haruta did her best but, one could not cause the same level of mayhem as two. Plus, it wasn't as fun as it is with her older brother by her side, often going over the side of the Moby Dick together when they were eventually caught. It just wasn't the same.

Thatch was going to go on a pranking spree when he got back.

For now though everyone enjoyed the mini vacation. Even Whitebeard was enjoying himself to some extent. Other than the nurses, Marco was the only one who tried to limit his alcohol intake.

Activity up at the navigation room caught Whitebeards attention. Namur was walking towards him, holding one of their den den mushi's.

Haruta also noticed her brothers actions and came sprinting over, eager to hear the latest news. _Perhaps by now Marco and Thatch have found them!_ Hope filled Haruta's heart with that thought. Behind her, she could hear many more siblings making their way over.

"It's Thatch." Namur informed their father.

Whitebeard took the snail from Namur with a smile and nod of thanks.

"Hello Thatch. How are you and your brother doing?"

"Hey Pops. We're both alright." Thatch said, though his voice sounded different. Not strained, yet it lacked his usual happy enthusiasm.

That tone immediately put the family on alert, it was so out of character with their usual jovial brother.

"Has something happened? By your tone, I'm guessing that you haven't found the three brothers yet." Pops said, voicing his concerns.

Around Whitebeard, his sons and daughters quietened. Wanting to hear the news and yet, not wanting to hear it. Not if it meant something happened to their soon-to-be brothers.

There was a deep sigh from the other end of the line.

"No, we haven't caught up with them, that u-turn they made put them an extra half day ahead of us at least..."

There was a pause. Whitebeard waited patiently for his son to continue. He knew there had to be more to it then that.

Another sigh, quieter this time.

"There was a storm last night..." Thatch said, his voice rough.

The Whitebeard pirates froze at that news.

"Marco's flown out ahead to see if he can spot them. I- we don't know if-" Thatch faltered.

"We understand." Whitebeard said, easing his sons burden to try and explain what they already understood. "Keep us informed and let Marco know we are going to navigate closer to your location."

"Thanks, Pops. I'll let Marco know. I'd better hang up now, Marco said he'd call if- no when he found them." Thatch said, his normal voice returning to him.

"Alright Thatch. Keep us informed." Pops listened as the den den mushi clicked, the line going silent. He looked up at his gathered family before catching Namur's eye. "Namur, set a new course for the West Blue." Pops said, holding the den den mushi out for him to take back with him.

Namur nodded, taking hold of the now silent snail.

With the less than welcome news came a change aboard the Moby Dick.

The plans for yet another party that evening fell off, either forgotten or ignored.

Some started training as way for take their mind off the news.

Haruta spent the rest of the afternoon brooding, looking out to sea.

Namur remained locked away in the navigation room the rest of the day with the other navigators, plotting he fastest route to the West Blue. It should not have taken them that long to plot, they were not that far away as it was but, no one ventured in there to see what, if anything, they really were doing in there.

Still, no matter how bad things were, things had not yet sank low enough to do any paperwork. Marco was really going to be pissed.

* * *

Marco trilled to himself as flew flew over the ocean, spreading his wings as far as they could go. No matter the reason, he loved the times when he could give into his phoenix side and take to the skies. Being a pirate gave him freedom on the seas and his devil fruit gave him freedom in the sky. To Marco he had the best of both worlds, complete freedom.

Up here he could see for miles, if he's on the path the storm pushed the three brothers, Marco will spot them. Perhaps Thatch is right. Other than finding the booze Pops wanted, this trip has been the host of more bad luck than Marco cared to think about. Surely, they were more than due something good.

Marco groaned inwardly at that thought. Next thing you knew, he'd be believing in the power of three, good luck charms, ghosts, and all the other odd things Thatch believed in.

More than anything, he hoped the boys were okay. They too, have had more then their fair share of bad luck and misfortune. Children should not have to go through what they have. Already, even without meeting them, he admired their strength and courage.

A glimpse of some object on the water towards the east caught his attention. With a loud trill and a tilt of his wings, Marco was homing in on the distant spec, his hopes rising.


	11. To The Rescue Pt 1

**You know how you have one of those days you just know is going to be bad and you wish you could just stay in bed until that feeling goes away but, you can't because you're an adult with responsibilities. Yeah, I had one of those days a little over a month ago and it hasn't got much better.**

 **My dog got sick, he's better now. But, almost as soon as we got over that hump and I could get back to writing, a pair of my neighbors dogs were loose and attacked (tried to kill) my cat. Top that off with some family issues and a boss that could care less and wished all his employees were robots, I'm now looking for a job too. Good news is my cat has recovered and is now a strictly indoor (rather than indoor/outdoor) cat weather he likes it or not.**

 **::sigh:: This chapter was originally going to be at least twice as long, in fact I held off publishing it to see if I could get back into gear but, I just couldn't get there. It's not really finished so, think of this as part one.**

 **I really have no idea when I'll get to the next part out, right now I just feel so drained. Maybe when the stress of finding a new job and getting settled into it is out of the way my creative spark will be back. Right now it's more like the weak spark you get from an empty lighter...**

 **Thank you, thank you my wonderful reviewers, followers (over 300 now! ::Squeals and faints::) and favs.**

 **I would say that I don`t have the time to reply to all of you individually like I have been _if_ I wanted to lie to you guys and take the easy way out of an explanation.**

 **Truth is I just really don't feel up to it, it wouldn't be me personally taking an interest and replying to you all on an individual level, it would just be me 'going through the motions'. That's not fair to any of us.**

 **I know what this means, it's an early warning sign that my depression is starting to wake up and say "oh, you're having a bad patch are you? Here, let me make it worse."**

 **Just know that I read each new review, several of you made me smile. That counts for a lot right now. Hopefully next time I post, I'll feel more like me and can reply back to your reviews. Cookies and milk for everyone!**

 **I don't own one piece**

* * *

One vulnerability that everyone, even the vampires agree upon is how easy it is to get close to a vampire while they are asleep without detection. Ace could only sense what was going on around him from a radios of about five feet away from him.

It is perhaps why vampire's tend to have homes in remote places. Although, that could easily be more attributed to the human tendency to wave about torches and sharpen bits of wood whenever they hear of a vampire in the area.

Not knowing any other half-vampires or even any vampires, Sabo and Luffy did not know if many of Ace's habits was normal for one of his mixed heritage or if it was something that was uniquely Ace.

Ace was able to sense who or what was near him and if the person or animal was deemed friend, Ace was more difficult to wake up than a grizzly bear in mid winter. His waking process during these times is slow, it takes Ace's brain several minutes to engage and take itself off of auto-pilot.

However anyone unfamiliar who was incautious, ignorant, arrogant, stupid or otherwise unlucky enough to try and approach Ace while he was asleep would be in for an instant attack once they came into range. The instinct to attack any threat apparently required no brain power to operate. There was at least one tiger that had learned this fact the hard way and still ran from Ace whenever it caught sight of Ace.

Knowing this explained a lot about Ace and why he felt morning should be banned as a general rule. It went a long way towards explaining why Ace is the way he is at the moment of waking up.

* * *

Ace twitched, trying to figure out which brain cell decided to get active and whether it was important enough to wake up for.

 _Salty..._ The word floated around in Ace's inactive brain, trying to find a clue as to why it was drifting around in there. Finding nothing to link it up with, the word settled back down to the depths.

In a way that was second nature to Ace, he could sense Luffy's presence lying on his back. It was the only place where Ace felt any warmth. He was vampire enough not to suffer any ill effects from the cold but, human enough to hate being cold and apparently vampire enough not to be able to generate his own heat. Ace had to use his brothers as heaters or drink someone's blood in order to not feel cold.

 _Wooden..._ A new word drifted up into the level of Ace's awareness. That word seemed... important somehow...

Ace twitched again when a part of him realized he couldn't 'feel' Sabo near him. That thought nagged at him enough to kick some extra brain cells into gear. On his back, Luffy mumbled something incoherent and shifted himself back into a comfortable position.

Ace couldn't feel Sabo... But, that wasn't unusual... unless he was very close Ace wouldn't. So, why did that bother him so much this time...

With a higher brainwave activity going, Ace also realized that he and Luffy were both wet.

Slowly, like an out of focus picture coming into view Ace began to piece together the clues his brain had been trying to get him to notice.

 _Salty... wet... water...No Sabo... on a wooden object... water... No Sabo..._

Ace's eyes slammed open with the urgency of a late night party-goer who couldn't remember if they got home or not.

Ace remembered how Luffy had managed to stretch enough to reach him just as the lightning hit the mast. It was to quick and to bright to be certain but, Ace was pretty sure Sabo was alright.

The next thing Ace knew, he had his arms full of Luffy and he was trying to keep both of them afloat. Sometime during the storm something solid and buoyant had come close enough for Ace to grab hold of.

Ace could now see that he and Luffy wound up on the mast from their boat. Ace attempted to sit up without dislodging Luffy from his back, an easy feat considering the number of times either brother carried a sleeping Luffy on their back.

The sun had just finished setting in the west, the last glow of it's rays gracing the horizon. So, they had been out cold lying on their broken mast for a whole day.

Well, Ace could understand why he was asleep for it. Daytime was a normal sleep time for vampires and it usually took considerable effort on his brothers part to get him up and moving before sundown. But, Luffy... Ah, well the seawater probably had something to do with that. It weakened devil fruit users and both he and Luffy were soaked.

Ace let out a sigh.

He hoped Sabo was fairing better then they were. Of the three of them, he usually had the best luck. Luffy had the worst luck of the three with the uncanny addition to having the best luck possible in getting out of the situation his bad luck put him in. Ace well, he would be the first to admit that his luck was usually fell somewhere in between his brothers, sometimes really good up at Sabo's level while other times it could be as bad as Luffy's without the edition of being his own bad luck fix.

On the whole, Ace supposed it balanced out somehow. Although on what kind of scale was anyone's guess.

For now, Ace would just have to look after their littlest brother for the both of them and that meant getting Luffy somewhere dry. Ace could see a darker shape on the horizon where he was looking earlier to the west and knew it to be an island.

Ace carefully shifted Luffy around to his front. "Luffy, hey Lu. Come on, time to get up."

Luffy mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'meat' and tried to turn over in Ace's grip, causing Ace to tighten his grip on his little brother. That finally caused Luffy to stir.

"Ace... waz gon' on..?" Luffy asked, his voice sounding muzzy and his words slurred. That was wrong, all wrong. Luffy went from dead asleep to bouncing around like someone who just finished their tenth cup of coffee faster then someone could blink.

Ace swallowed his panic at the sound of Luffy's voice, even though his insides turned to lead at the sound. It would be fine, Ace kept on repeating to himself. Get Luffy dry and he would be free of the seawater's negative effect on him... Ace hoped, oh how he hoped that was all he needed to do to make this better. If it wasn't... Ace didn't know what to do.

"We were in the storm, remember Lu? You tired to pull me back to the boat and then it got struck by lightning..." Ace trailed off as he saw comprehension dawn on his little brother's face.

Luffy looked around in a frantic, yet sluggish panic. "Where's Sabo!?"

"He's still on the boat." Ace smiled or at least hoped that's what it looked like. "I'm sure Sabo will figure out some way to attach our small jib sail and make the boat go again. I'm going to fly us over to that island." Ace tilted his head in the direction of the island.

Luffy still looked doubtful, worried and Ace couldn't blame him. "Sabo will be fine Lu, he's the thinker of the three of us. Hell, he'll probably find us but, just in case I'll make a few search flights to see if I can spot him first."

Luffy nodded his head slowly.

"Good. I'm going to shift now so, I want you to stay still Luffy. We don't need you falling into the sea right now." Another nod from Luffy as his little brother moved forward to lie down on the mast was all the signal Ace need to go through with the shift.

* * *

As Marco flew closer to the object he spotted, it became clear to his keen eyes that it was a small boat in distress. His blue flames flared brighter in Marco's sudden urgency to get there faster.

On the deck he could see a blond kid working to put together a raft. _That must be Sabo,_ Marco thought. He was the only one of the brothers who was blond. There was no sign of the other two and that didn't settle well with Marco.

The boat was sitting low in the water, clearly sinking, her mast missing. It was unlikely that the other two kids would be below... Marco really didn't care to finish that thought but, his treacherous brain had other ideas. The horrifying image of the other two kids adrift in the ocean kept on replaying in his mind.

Marco circled the boat once, on his second loop the kid must have noticed his shadow for he looked up at Marco flying somewhat low above him. The kid, Sabo paused in his raft preparations for a moment to watch Marco. Marco was hesitant to land, fearing his extra weight may be to much for the sinking boat and also not wanting to scare the kid, that would make a great first impression.

Marco let out a trill, hoping that it might be seen as some kind of a good sign by the boy, before leaving the area and heading back to Thatch to set a course directly to the kid.

He flew a little off a direct path, in the hopes that he may catch sight of the other two brothers but, with no luck. They could have been tossed anywhere by that storm, even a fifty miles away by now with the currents...

If Marco could sigh in his current state, he would do so. The odds of the two brats surviving for any length of time on the open water was slim. The only hope they would have is if the storm brought them near enough to an island.


End file.
